


Behind the mask

by Akemichan



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fandom - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, ChatNoir!Marco, Ladybug!Ace, M/M, Miraculous Ladybug!AU sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-10-28 18:18:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10836759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akemichan/pseuds/Akemichan
Summary: Ace has two lives. In one, is a normal art student with a crush for his teacher Marco. In the other, is Fire Fist, Paris' favorite superhero along with his partner, the Phoenix. Even if Ace doesn't like it very much.Marco has two lives. In one, is a normal art teacher who tries his best for his students. In the other, is the partner of Fire Fist, a man Marco loves even if he doesn't know who there is behind the mask.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> This is my second story for the One Piece Big Bang. Last year I watched Miraculous Ladybug and I loved it so much I had to create a One Piece version with one of my OTP. Don't worry, you can read this story even if you have never seen Miraculous Ladybug (but you should!), I basically only took the relationship between the main characters (where they love each other, but since the have a secret identity, the don't know).
> 
> My partner for this story is metaknight, who made two pretty drawings I'm very happy for! You will find them in the story, but please check the Tumblr form more: http://metaknighto.tumblr.com/
> 
> I also need to thank my beta Christine for checking the story!
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this story.

The alarm clock rang, the acute sound echoed in the dark room, despite Ace's attempts to make it stop throwing at it everything he could find nearby the bed. So Ace covered his head with the pillow, hand strongly pressed against his ears.

"Come on, Ace, it's time to get up. You're late."

"Go away."

Sabo wasn't bothered a bit, and grabbing the sheet and pillow, he pulled them off the bed and its occupant. Ace was left uncovered in the bed, with only the underwear he used to sleep with, but he turned his back to Sabo as if nothing happened.

"I'm tired. You know what I did last night."

Sabo sighed. "Yes, but you have a lesson today. And, if I recall correctly, and I _do_ , it is the one with your favorite professor." He shrugged. "So, if you'd like to miss it..."

Ace glared at him. "You always have to be the voice of reason, don’t you?"

"That’s what I’m here for." Sabo smiled.

In the end Ace stood up, stretching his arms up high to wake him up, and looked at the alarm clock. His eyes widened. "It's late!"

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Told you."

Ace ignored him as he tossed himself out the bed and rushed into the bathroom. Five minutes later he emerged with his hair still wet as he raced down the stairs while pulling on his pants and his shirt at the same time.

Sabo sighed again, then took Ace's pack and shoes and followed him downstairs. The kitchen was a mess after Luffy's breakfast, but he was already long gone for school. The unwritten rule of the house was that he and Ace cleaned up their little brother's mess, but since the "problem" with Ace had started, Sabo had accepted the fact that he would be the one to take care of everything.

So he watched as Ace stuffed his mouth with as many brioches he could while he put his shoes on, then grabbed his pack, and murmured a "thank you" spitting crumbs around, before disappearing outside the house.

"You're welcome," Sabo said with a soft smile, as he collected the plates on the table.

It was so late Ace knew he wouldn't make it in time for the beginning of the lesson, but that didn't stop him from being annoyed by the slow movements of the subway. If he could use his power he would be at class in no time, but he had to be a normal student for now.

As soon as the metro reached his stop, Ace rushed outside the metro station and towards the school, unaware of the people he almost ran over. He dashed into the hallway of the _Ecole Nationale Superiore des Arts Decorative_ , ignoring the yells around him. In that way he was able to reach the class only twenty minutes late.

The door was closed, so Ace pushed it open just a little to peek inside. The professor was written something on the board, his back turned to the students, so Ace slipped inside without him noticing, at least for now. He climbed the stairs and sat down in the highest seat, next to Oars, who shot him a smile and then pushed his notebook over to Ace to show him what he had missed.

Ace nodded and smiled thankfully, before turning his attention to the professor, who was speaking at the class as he showed them the drawing he'd made on the board.

Sabo was right in saying Professor Marco is Ace's favorite. Despite Sabo's teasing, the Professor was his favorite, not only because he was hot (Ace had stalked his Facebook page and found a pretty nice picture of the man in a swimsuit that showed off his abs), but because of his behavior.

Marco taught extremely well, way better than his colleagues, showing he loved both his subject and teaching. His voice was calm and warm, and Ace enjoyed hearing his explanations. Marco appreciated all his students in his own way, never made fun of them or their problems, and was never harsh on them regardless of the situation. He was gentle and caring.

Ace, who had experienced a lot of trouble with other teachers in the past, had liked him immediately. The admiration slowly turned into a crush he didn't even try to hide it anymore. Ace was okay with Marco the Professor, but was more and more eager to know Marco as a person.

And when Marco rested his eyes on him during the lesson, Ace knew Marco did notice Ace’s late arrival, but decided to brush it off with just a little smile as he kept speaking. Ace smiled back and waited for the end of the lesson.

As soon as Marco left the room, Ace followed him in the hallway, with just a nod of excuse to Oars, who shrugged. Ace's crush was something Oars was used to.

"Professor!" Ace reached Marco and walked at his side. "You may have noticed I was late today..."

"Yes, I noticed." Marco's tone was amused, but not in a wrong way. "Did you still manage to follow the lecture?"

"Uhm, yes and no..." Ace wouldn't in any way dismiss Marco's teaching ability, but at the same time he'd like to take any chance he could have. "Recently I have problems focusing." It wasn't even a lie. "So I was wondering if you could give me some of your time to check back on some topics I could have missed." He smiled wide.

Marco smiled back. "Of course. If I don't have a lesson you can find me in my office. The door is always open for students."

"Why not a coffee now? I didn't have a proper breakfast and my next lesson is in half an hour." _And so is yours_ , but Ace restrained himself from saying it and showing how much he knew about his professor's habits and schedule.

"I don't think it would be appropriate," Marco said gently.

"A coffee?" Ace retorted back, with an innocent and surprised expression on his face. "Well, no coffee then. We can take an orange juice, or something else you could find... appropriate."

Marco couldn't help but smile at Ace's blatant fake ignorance. "I don't think it is appropriate for a teacher to take a coffee or anything else with his students outside of lessons time."

"But why? We would be sitting at a table, just as in your office, but with something more to eat or drink." Ace's arms widened. "Unless you would consider it a date and I will be flattered by that."

"Ace..." Marco said softly. "I will explain everything you need in my office, and you can take coffee if you like, but no more than that. I consider you more than intelligent enough to understand my position."

Ace was about to reply, but his cell phone he had tucked in the back pocket of his pants rang, the sound of the song filling the space between the two men.

Marco took the chance to end the conversation. "And somebody is calling you, so better not make them wait. See you."

Ace groaned watching Marco's back as he walked towards his office, but then moved into the nearest restroom without a second though. He was pissed at his phone as he took it out and pushed his thumb on the touch screen. Criminals really didn't choose the right time, just when Ace was almost getting some results with Marco.

Despite what Marco had thought - well, that was the reason Sabo had created it in the first place - it wasn't a call. It was an app Sabo had developed just for Ace. As soon as news of a crime popped up, the app started singing with the not so very subtle song of the Heavenly Heaven 'Somebody come save me'.

A way for Ace to know he was needed without other people becoming suspicious.

The restroom was deserted, so Ace sighed before pronouncing the magic words. "Enkai." Flames erupted from his body, covering him entirely.

When they disappeared, Ace wasn't Ace anymore, but _Fire Fist_ , the superhero with the power of fire who protected Paris from criminals. The red mask he wore was enough to hide the upper side of his face, freckles included, and that made him unrecognizable. His torso was covered only by a red tattoo representing a flame. It started from the left side of his hip and spread across his chest with the last lounge that touched his right shoulder; the same across his back.

His costume, mask and tattoo aside, consisted only of large red and orange pants, a design very similar to that of a fireman, and black boots that reached his knees. Sabo had mocked him more than once, but Ace actually liked it. The large pants and no shirt gave him a lot of freedom moving around, and the gloves; let's not forget the gloves.

He hurried outside the restroom from the window, and jumped onto the roof of the building of the university, being careful to use the sunlight as a shield for avoiding people spotting him. In his superhero form everything was stronger, so Ace managed to reach the place the app had indicated to him just by jumping from roof to roof.

Place des Fetes was surrounded by cops. At the center of it stood a white platform and some people were stuck to it by their feet. In the middle stood a pillar topped by a basket. It rotated on itself, spreading a white substance into the air that Ace realized when he got closer, was actually wax dust.

It was easy to spot the criminal - a skinny man, with a pretty peculiar hair cut very similar to a three – who could create wax and manipulate it, and Ace hurried to stop some arrows directed towards the police.

"You know, wax and fire doesn't mix together." Ace said, with a smirk, as the criminal glared at him, irritated at the interruption.

"You again!" It was Smoker, the police officer in charge of the operation and someone who didn't like Fire Fist very much, to say at least. For that reason, Ace found amusing to make fun of him.

"I can leave if you prefer," Ace stated, with an innocent smile, "But, I dare say, those people right there seem a lot happier to see me here than you. You should definitely work on your relationship skills."

Smoker grumbled at himself, but didn't reply to Ace's remarks. "He's Galdino, a former employer of the bank over there," he explained. "He was fired and now he wants revenge, so he took all the employees and director hostage."

"Same old story. Boring." Ace commented. Criminals acted for two reasons only: revenge and profit. At one certain point Ace had stopped caring about their motives.

He focused his attention on the hostage. Now it was more clear that even the platform, the pillar and the basket were made with wax, but Ace noticed at that moment that the wax dust was slowly attaching to the people around the pillar. They were breathing harder and Ace was sure they would be killed if they remained in the middle of the wax for too long.

Luckily, his fire could melt wax in no time. He only had to climb on the platform and warm it enough for the wax to become soft so the hostages could free themselves. Ace covered his arms with flames and sprang in action. Galdino saw his move and sprayed his wax towards Ace.

To protect himself, Ace hit the man with his fire, with the consequences that the wax turned liquid, a sea of hot white wax that covered everything in its path. Ace cursed; even though he could generate fire, he wasn't intangible. He jumped away, but Galdino understood and attacked him again with the wax.

Ace's only choice was to melt it and take the risk of being submerged by it. Before that could happen, someone grabbed Ace's arm and lifted him into the air. The waves of wax slowly covered the place he had stood, with the policemen rushing away from it, before it cooled down and solidified.

"Be careful. We don't want you to hurt those cute feet of yours, do we?"

"You never see my feet, you can't know they're cute," Ace retorted, and glared at the man who, wings spread wide, was keeping him in the air and away from the wax. "And you're late."

As with every decent superhero, Ace had a partner. Or better, as Ace preferred to refer him, a sidekick. Ace didn't choose him, so he was stuck with the Phoenix, who was most of the time pretty annoying with his flirtations.

Phoenix's mask was a light blue helmet that completely covered his head, and ended with a bird's beak, hiding the upper part of his face. He was also more dressed than Ace, but the blue and gold tight tracksuit didn't hide the Phoenix's figure much, abs and ass included. Something Ace could appreciate, if said body wouldn't have belonged to such an annoying man.

"But thank you," Ace said, at last. "Would you put me down now or are you gonna wait until my arm tears off?"

The Phoenix smiled. "As you wish, my dear." And he landed on the now solidified sea of wax, but even if Ace now had his feet on the ground, he didn't let him go.

Ace looked down at Phoenix's grip on his arm, then shot him a not so amused look, before pulling free.

Phoenix wasn't fazed by it, but focused his attention on their enemy. "What do we have here?" he asked.

"A man with a not very interesting story who can create wax is slowly killing his former colleagues," Ace informed him. "And I can't beat him because my fire makes wax more dangerous, as you saw." The last part was spat, with bitter tone.

"More dangerous for people that can get hurt," Phoenix pointed out, with a little smile. "But not for me."

Usually, Ace would have rolled his eyes. He found it unfair that Phoenix had not one but two superpowers: he could fly and, at the same time, regenerated himself from every wound, even mortal ones. But in this case, Ace could appreciate a little help.

"What do you suggest?"

"Just do what you do best," Phoenix said, bent down so his face to was near to Ace's. "Let your fire shine." Then he moved away and began walking straightforward. He didn't even look at Galdino, focusing his attention on the hostages.

Galdino shifted his gaze from Ace to Phoenix, before forming another wall of wax, to stop Phoenix from advancing further. Phoenix kept moving and, behind him, Ace smirked.

"Kagero!"

Flames erupted from Ace's palm, surpassed Phoenix and hit the wall. The wax melted. Phoenix didn't stop. The wax brushed his legs, but blue flames surrounded them, healing from every burn the wax could cause.

Galdino stopped, looking at Phoenix with wide eyes. Phoenix smiled, then took advantage of his opponent's distraction to rush forwards and grabbed him from behind, clapping Galdino's neck with his arm.

Ace didn't stop to watch Phoenix's action. He noticed the basket was still moving, so he rushed forward, now that the path was clear, and jumped on the platform, with the hostages' relief. He bent down and put his hands on the ground: the wax was warmed enough to become soft, so the hostages could free their feet by themselves.

"Go," Ace ordered. They hurried to obey, so Ace could turn his attention from them to Galdino, who first had tried, with no avail, to hit Phoenix with an arrow made out of wax, but now was trying to submerge him entirely. Phoenix's legs were already trapped in wax.

With two jumps, Ace was in front of Galdino. "Hiken!" Ace hit him in the torso with his best attack, leaving the mark of a fist burned in his skin. Galdino collapsed on the ground, while Ace let other flames encircle Phoenix to free him from the wax.

"My hero," Phoenix murmured, with an amused smile. He wasn't worried by the fact that he could have suffocated by the wax and died. "Can I thank you for saving me with a kiss?"

Ace rolled his eyes and took a step back. Did he let Galdino catch him so he could hit on Ace? "Be careful next time, because I'm not sure I'll always arrive in time to save you." But Ace decided to be a little grateful for the help, so he added, "See you next time."

Before jumping away, of course. Maybe he could arrive on time for the last part of his next lesson.

***

Marco landed few blocks away from the university, before returning back to his human form. The wings disappeared inside him, and the tight tracksuit became again his suit with the cravat he wore as a normal, ordinary art professor.

Once he assured himself nobody had noticed him, he began walking back to school. He arrived just in time to see the end of the lesson he should have attended, so he hid behind the door until the last student left the class. Only then did he enter the room.

"Thank you, Thatch." He approached the man that had posed as him while Marco was too busy saving innocent people in a costume.

Thatch sighed, relieved, and freed himself from the mask that covered his face entirely.

"This is getting out of hand," he informed Marco. "Luckily, this time the lesson was about Greek art, so a mask from Greek tragedy fit. But there’ll come the day I won't be able to disguise as you anymore."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it won't. Your imagination is unlimited."

"Don't flatter me like that. No, I'm joking, please continue."

Marco smiled. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

Since day one of his adventure as a superhero, Thatch had helped him cover his absence at work, something Marco was grateful for. Thatch was a very good actor and story teller, so every time he managed to do something to trick the students into believing he was the real Marco. And Marco could accept being seen as a weird both from students and colleagues if that meant nobody found out about his secret identity.

But he felt guilty about involving Thatch with his problems, even if he was aware he couldn't have done it without his help. Thatch, though, being the kind person he was, was more than willing to help him.

"Nah, pal, it's nothing. It was pretty fun this time, I admit it." And he patted his shoulder, in a reassuring way. "Did you save the day?"

Marco nodded. "Not alone, though."

"So it was worth it."

"It was." Marco's smile softened.

"Oh, yeah, your literally hot partner." Thatch's tone implied a conversation Marco had heard many times and didn't want to face again, but before he could change the subject, Thatch went on. "I understand Fire Fist's charm, I really do, but how could you be so obsessed with him? You used to be the realistic one in the family."

"Thatch..."

"Why pursue someone you don't even really know, you don't even see behind the mask, when you have a nice young man who would like a date with you? What's his name again? Lacey?"

"It's _Ace,_ " Marco corrected him, and frowned. "And I hope you're not suggesting I should date one of my students."

"I suggest you date a real person, not a fictional character. No matter how many people you and Fire Fist save together, you can't have a normal relationship. You don't know him."

Marco would've answered, but Thatch was oddly right. Just as Marco, Fire Fist could have an entire life behind his mask Marco wasn't part of, and never would be. What remained for him were just the few moments they shared together as superheroes, something Marco wasn't ready to give up.

"Hey, pal, I didn't mean it," Thatch said, understanding the sadness in the silence. "You're great even without the mask off, okay? And you'll find someone even more amazing than Fire Fist. Who knows, maybe in real life he is the most boring person ever, and he spends his days in front of the television drinking beers."

Marco doubted it. Even if he met Fire Fist just a few times, in some way he knew him. There was a connection between them, or at least it seemed to him. But it was not something he would explain to Thatch, and just smiled, appreciating Thatch's efforts to comfort him.

"I need a coffee now. Will you join me?"

"Sure." Marco nodded and followed him outside the room.


	2. Chapter Two

"Sshh!" Luffy hissed, despite being the one who was actually making the most noise in the kitchen, directed his attention to the television and turned up the volume.

The newscast was speaking about the incident with Galdino the day before, and how Fire Fist and Phoenix had saved the day. The screen showed imagines of the square they had fought in and the moment when Galdino was arrested, along with some information about his motivations and fate.

Then, the face of the journalist who was speaking appeared.

"Now we're all praising these... _heroes_ that saved us. But are we sure we can call them that? Can people that live outside the law really be best-suited to protect us? If we consider the higher amount of criminals with powers that popped up recently, it's not that hard to answer. Or maybe it's all a play and those supposed heroes— "

Sabo took the remote control and turned off the television. "Don't listen to him," he said to Ace.

"I don't," Luffy said, believing Sabo was addressing him. His face was still focused on the now black screen, while his back faced the table Sabo and Ace were sitting at, so he couldn't see how Ace's expression had fallen as the journalist had spoken.

"Good." Sabo didn't correct him.

"Nobody does!" Luffy's attention returned to his breakfast and he stuffed his mouth as much as he could. "Everybody loves them! My classroom started a fan club about them."

Sabo shot a look to Ace, who hadn't say anything, but pretended to eat even if his spoon hadn't moved once from his cup. "So you like them too?" Sabo asked Luffy, who nodded a lot.

"Heroes are cool!" he exclaimed. "I don't want to be one, though..."

"Who do you prefer?" Sabo inquired again, his eyes still fixed on Ace. "Fire Fist or Phoenix?"

"Fire Fist!" Luffy answered without hesitation, and Sabo didn't miss the slight smile as it appeared on Ace's face.

"Oh?" Sabo purred, a smirk stretched his lips. "Why not Phoenix? He can fly!"

Ace rolled his eyes. Sure Sabo was playing with him now.

"Flying is cool," Luffy admitted. "But fire is cooler. Have you seen Fire Fist coming at the enemies and then BOOM all the fire and the enemies go down and all the sparkles..." Luffy combined his sentences with a lot of movements from his arms. "Plus, Phoenix is clearly the sidekick, not the main character. People love Batman, not Robin." And Luffy shot a very critical look at Sabo for not knowing something so obvious.

"Yeah, he is the sidekick," Ace agreed, before addressing a victory smile to Sabo, who just laughed.

Ace looked at the watch. "Well, not even heroes can save you from being late," he commented.

Luffy looked at him, blinking. "It's late!" he understood then, as he jumped and grabbed his backpack and rushed to the door.

"Did you take your lunch?" Ace yelled behind him. "And do you remember you have the visit at the Louvre Museum today!" But Luffy had already left, so all that remained was for Ace was to sigh and roll his eyes.

Sabo chuckled. "You could have transformed and given him a lift."

"Like hell." Ace shot him a glare. "Nobody should know about the identity of Fire Fist, not even my brothers. It's bad enough I told you."

"You didn't tell me, I found out," Sabo pointed out, with a satisfied smile. As if Ace could hide something from him.

"Whatever." Ace shrugged and pretended to be focused on his breakfast. His expression fell again as he rotated the spoon in the cup.

"You didn't believe that journalist, did you?" Sabo asked then. "Most of them will do anything for an audience."

"Yeah, but..." Ace sighed. "What if he's right? What if it's me that lures criminals out? There weren't so many people with superpowers when I began three months ago."

"Some people are evil, you can't be responsible for them." Sabo answered. "As you use your power for good, they use theirs for their interests. It's not your fault."

"Maybe I shouldn't have started this whole superhero thing at all." Ace commented, as if he hadn't heard anything of what Sabo had said. "These powers looked so good at the beginning... But how did I get them? And why me?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure there are a lot more people better suit than me out there."

"Ace." Sabo put his hand on Ace's arm and looked intensely at him. "I don't know how you got your powers, but I know you're worthy of them. I know that because you're a good man; because you care." He paused. "That's why you're the hero and the others are villains."

Even if Ace found it hard to believe, to believe he was worth of something, let alone superpowers, he understood Sabo was trying to comfort him and he appreciated it. So he smiled slightly.

"Thank you."

"And, as with every good hero out there, now you're gonna help this poor man who needs your assistance." Sabo continued, with a more amused tone. "Today it's your turn to clean the kitchen."

"That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Ace protested, but he was smiling. Sabo and Luffy managed to relax him every time.

"Of course" Sabo nodded solemnly. "But I really need to go now, I have a conference in half an hour I don't want to miss..."

"Yeah, yeah... Go, go, don't worry about me, I will just stay here, alone, with all these dirty dishes to wash..." Ace pretended to be sad, in a very pathetic way, and Sabo shook his head and laughed.

"See you later, hero."

When Sabo left, Ace found his appétit had come back, so he finished his breakfast before starting to clean up the kitchen. As he put back the last dish, he looked at the clock. He still had an hour left before his lesson started, so he could watch a little bit of television before.

He turned it on, only to find out there was a special edition of the newscast: some new human with power had attacked the Louvre Museum, asking for the director to deliver the 'Poneglyps'. The journalist supposed it to be an ancient artifact of some sort, and the experts were discussing about it since none of them knew the Louvre kept something with that name.

Ace couldn't care less about what the 'Poneglyph' is, he was paralyzed by the thought that Luffy could have been already in the Louvre when the commotion had started. And then the camera focused on the Louvre's windows, from where a bunch of boys and girls were watching outside.

"Luffy!"

Ace's transformation wasn't even complete when he left the house through his room's window, his body still covered in flames, but he managed to cool down as he thought about the fastest way to reach the Louvre from where he was. And despite taking the fastest route, when he arrived in the square in front of the museum, he found Phoenix was already there, fighting with a man with a scar that split his face in two.

Ace jumped over the police lines and the other people in the crowd around the square, paying them no attention despite hearing their gasps at his arrival. He landed on the glass pyramid. The criminal grabbed Phoenix by the neck, but instead of choking him it looked like if he was sucking out his energy.

"Hey!"

Ace shot some fire balls at the criminal, who let Phoenix go and turned himself into sand, before disappearing in the ground. Ace reached for Phoenix, his body lying on the ground, still. His visible skin was dry and wrinkled, and all his muscle tone had disappeared leaving the once tight suit now too big for his nothing but bones body.

Ace stared at him, frozen. Was he too late? Was he so unable to save someone, even his own partner?

Then blue flames erupted and covered his prone form entirely. When they disappeared, Phoenix returned to his normal form, abs and everything. Ace sighed. Despite knowing about Phoenix's regeneration powers, Ace couldn't help but worry that, some time, they won't be enough.

"One of these times you'll find something you can't recover from," he warned Phoenix.

He shrugged. "When that happens, I'll retire."

Ace could have pointed out that ‘retire’ wasn't a synonym for ‘death’, but decided he didn't care enough about Phoenix to scold him for not being more careful. Plus, there were screams coming from the Louvre that caught his attention. Ace looked at the windows, but was too far away to identify the faces.

"Did he turn all the ground into shifting sands?" Ace asked, looking at the brown spot surrounding the entire building.

"Basically," Phoenix nodded. "From how it looks, he can swallow the museum altogether, with all the people inside. And since he can hide in the ground, he is a tough opponent." His voice was almost pleased.

Ace reflected. "Fire can turn sand into glass, right?"

"Well, it isn't so simple..." Phoenix started, but stopped as soon he saw Ace take a step forward and, arms straight in front of him with the palms pointed to the shifting sands.

"Kagero."

Flames erupted from his hands and surrounding the building following the line the shifting sands created. Then Ace directed the fire wall inside them, covering the sand entirely. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, maybe glass didn't work in this way, but the first thing he had to do was protect the museum and the people inside.

Controlling that large quantity of fire was hard, especially because the flames were so close to the building wall that a distraction could have cause a large fire even more dangerous than the shifting sands, so Ace remained focused on them even when the enemy appeared again from the ground.

His clothing was a little burned, indicating that the fire was actually damaging the sand and its creator. Ace kept the fire burning, as Phoenix intervened and kicked their opponent before he could attack Ace. He tried to catch and dry Phoenix out again, but this second time Phoenix let his blue flames protect him. With all the ground covered with fire, there wasn't anywhere their enemy could hide.

"Now!" Phoenix shouted, as he managed to kick the enemy onto the ground.

In a second, the flames Ace was directing towards the museum shifted and surrounded the enemy. The man tried to escape, but it was too late. The flames attacked him quickly turning his body into glass, and immobilizing him on the spot.

"As usual, you're so awesome people stop breathing for you," Phoenix joked, as he landed next to Ace. Ace rolled his eyes, as Phoenix kept talking. "Who knows, maybe the Louvre will become more attractive now." He was referring to the glass surrounding the building as a contemporary art piece shining in the sun. "Though not nearly attractive as you."

Ace stopped his bitter remarks on the tip of his tongue and instead he touched the Phoenix's arm with his fingertips. "Don't leave, we need to talk."

The bird mask wasn't enough to hide Phoenix's surprise, even if it turned too fast in a smirk that made Ace groan. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Ace was ready to change his mind, when he was distracted by the crowd who surrounded them.

Now that the danger ended, the policemen were taking care of the criminal - at least what remained of him - and of the visitors, who had left the museum to go in to the square. Most of them were cheering and thanking Ace and Phoenix from a distance, but the students crowded around, without any fear and were so close they could touch the two heroes.

"That was so cool!"

"Are you made of fire like the Human Torch or you're like Spiderman and built something by yourself?"

"Can I take a photo?"

"Do you like art? I don't, museums are boring."

"God, you're so tall!"

"Can you give me your autograph?"

Most of them had their cell phone in their hand, taking as many pictures they could. Ace, even if he was a little embarrassed by the situation, couldn't help but smile, especially because Luffy was there, safe and sound and with his big smile on his face.

Phoenix, instead, looked annoyed, to Ace's surprise. When one of the boys took a step in his direction, Phoenix spread his wings and beat them so fast the wind they created was enough to make the crowd back off.

"And I'm the one that needs to learn how to take compliments," Ace mused, before lifting his hand. "Who would like my autograph?"

And when an ocean of hands sprang to the sky, small sparkles erupted from Ace's fingers. Ace directed them to the boys' notebook, marking the pages with little burn. The process amazed the boys, who kept their gaze first on the sparkles and then on the burn in their notebooks.

"What about a selfie?" Ace proposed, taking advantages of their distraction. He took a step forward and grabbed Luffy's arm, the one holding his cell phone. Then Ace took place behind him and smiled, before pressing his finger on the touch screen to take the picture. Luffy's surprised expression became happy and excited once, as he realized Fire Fist was touching him.

"Noo, I want one too!" another of the boy yelled, and Ace found himself surrounded again by people with cell phones. Another burst of wind was enough to create a space between Ace and the boys, so Phoenix could land there.

"Sorry, but it's my turn now."

Phoenix lifted Ace by his arms quickly and then flew into the sky, ignoring the protests from below. Ace was caught off guard, so he wasn't fast enough to free himself, but as soon as Phoenix landed on a nearby roof he shot the other an annoyed gaze and pushed him away.

Giving how much Phoenix liked showing off, his reaction to their fans was a little bit strange, even if Ace realized it could be dangerous to let other people be so close to them. Still, he couldn't help but mess with him a little.

"Are you jealous?" Ace asked. "Seems I got more fans than you."

"I'm jealous." Phoenix drew nearer, their faces close, and he smirked. "I don't like to share."

Ace felt Phoenix's breath on his skin and took a step back. "Then you're in luck, I’m taken by another." He didn't even think about Marco in that moment, but he appreciated the way Phoenix's smile fell, even for just a second.

"Are you going to break my heart again and again?" Phoenix asked, and his tone didn't sound that sad. "And here I though you wanted to speak with me about how much you loved me."

Ace rolled his eyes - something he did very often, basically every time Phoenix spoke - but then he remembered being the one asking for a talk.

"Have you notice how many people with superpowers we fought recently?" Ace asked.

Phoenix nodded. "You didn't blind me enough to not notice it."

Ace ignored the remark and went on, "And you don't find it strange?"

"Not really." Phoenix shrugged. "I'm not so full of myself to think other people couldn't have superpowers, and one can choose to use them for good or for bad. I will be wary if they want to attack us, but for now it seems they're just interested in their own business."

It was something similar to what Sabo had said, and Ace sighed. Was he the only one worried then? "And you never wonder how we got this power?" Ace asked again. "Why us? Why did you become a hero?"

Phoenix tilted his head, his gaze piercing Ace as he tried to understand what the real question was. "Yes, I asked myself why and how I got my powers the first time," he admitted at last. "That was before seeing you. I was here, asking myself what the hell was happening to me, and there you were helping people."

Ace's eyes widened. "You don't mean..."

"You asked me why I became a hero," Phoenix continued. "I became one because you were one. Because I thought I could help you. So sorry if you're stuck with me when I chose where I wanted to be." He didn't appear regretful, but he wasn't mocking Ace either.

"Well, it could be worse." Ace thanked his mask, hoping it would hide his embarrassment, and smiled amused. "Thank you and sorry I blabbed about these things."

Phoenix grabbed Ace's hand and bowed ceremoniously almost kissing its back. "Anytime you need, my hero," he said.

"Yeah, not so often." Ace answered, quickly pulling back his hands, but he was smiling. He waved. "Bye." He could feel Phoenix's gaze on his back, but he kept moving forwards. He let himself show too much with someone he didn't even know.

He turned back to his regular self when he reached his house, knowing it was too late for the university. His cell phone, which Ace had forgotten in his bedroom, rang and Ace noticed how many missed calls from Sabo there were. He immediately called him back.

"Ace!" Sabo, strangely, answered on the first ring, showing how much he was worried. "Have you heard about the Louvre? Luffy was there?"

"Yeah, I almost had a heart attack," Ace admitted. "But now he's safe and be ready, this evening he won't stop talking about him getting a selfie with Fire Fist." And he could almost hear the sound of Sabo's smile.

Then, Sabo was silent and Ace wondered if he could add something else, but he remained with the cell phone stuck on his ear.

"About what we talked about this morning..." Sabo began. "I've thought about it, so... I made some research. And I found something."

"Ah!" Ace understood. "You found something about superpowers?!"

"Not exactly." Sabo laughed. "It's not like it exists on something like a site called howpeoplegetsuperpowers.com that explains everything."

"That sucks," Ace joked. "So, what do you find?"

"I stumbled onto a blog on livejournal about aliens. It's written by one of those people who believed the government hides the truth about Roswell and other things. Of course they took superpowers as proof aliens exist or at least that they visited the Earth once."

"I'm not an alien."

"Sure you aren't," Sabo agreed patient. "But in one article the author mentioned someone that could have been a superhero thirty years ago."

Ace blinked. "We aren’t the first ones?"

"I think it’s likely," Sabo answered. "The more we go back in time, more we will be impossible to find out, because technology wasn't as developed then as it is now. But if you think about it, most of legends and superstitions could come from people with powers."

"And what does that mean?"

"Nothing... I mean, it's just something possible."

Ace groaned. "So in the end you didn't find anything."

"Oh?" Sabo sounded outraged. "Pity I have something else to tell you, but maybe now I won't."

"Oh, come on! Stop being so secretive and tell me!"

"The blog also spoke about a legend among the soldiers of the Second World War." Sabo said, after a minute of solemn silence. "A man who helped the Normandy Landing by destroying infrastructures with his enormous strength; apparently, he was so strong his steps created earthquakes."

"And the blog said he actually had superpowers?" Ace's voice wasn't convinced.

"Yes, the power to create earthquakes," Sabo agreed. "But I did some research. The sources were few and not really reliable since there was a war, but it seems like in the four-year period that France was fighting against Germany, the number of earthquakes increased significantly, even though none of them were very high in the Mercalli Intensity Scale to be actually important news-wise."

"A soldier with the power to create earthquakes that defeated the Germans," Ace repeated. "It really does sound like a legend."

"And, as with every legend out there, we also got a name," Sabo ended his tale with a triumphant smile. "Whitebeard. Maybe it was his nickname, but it sounds like a superhero, doesn't it?"

"Whitebeard..." Ace repeated.

"Wonder if he is still alive," Sabo asked. "Someone should check into the Second World War's records."

"Yeah, someone should," Ace agreed.


	3. Chapter Three

And Ace did research.

The library of his university had a large database regarding the events of the Second World War, including a collection of old journals. Unfortunately, most of them were censured by the Third Reich so there wasn't any information about soldiers or about earthquakes.

And reading the live journal Sabo had found made Ace thought they were probably only nonsense made up by an alien conspirator. Yes, the name 'Whitebeard' appeared in the list of soldiers, but none indicated he was the same man the live journal spoke about, nor that he had superpowers.

And any news about the 'Poneglyps' being a sign of alien landing looked make up, since the director of the Louvre had already cleared such an artifact didn't exist, and there weren’t any records of it in any of the books Ace consulted about the museum's collections.

Ace groaned and sank his head in the pile of books he had piled on the desk.

"What's with this long face?"

Immediately Ace reacted and turned his face to see Marco, mouth opened. His gaze then shifted to the pile of books and to the computer screen, where the alien conspirator's live journal was displayed in all its glory. His mind rushed to find a believable explanation, as Marco bent down to take a closer look.

"So, you think Fire Fist and Phoenix are aliens?"

"No!" Ace answered quickly, as he felt there was an incredulous tone in Marco's question. "I was just... uhm... searching for some fan club and stumbled on this website. But I don't believe it, really..."

"Well, it's not so far-fetched," Marco said. "Literature has spoken about superheroes in various ways: artificial or magical powers, born mutants, aliens... no wonder someone believed it in real life."

"Oh." Ace sighed internally, relieved Marco didn't think him crazy.

"So, you like our superheroes." Marco smiled softly and Ace froze looking at him. "Now I understand why your project for the _Travaux Pratique_ is about fire."

"Well..." Ace was forced to choose the art applied project just after he gained his fire powers, so finding out every method and material to draw it seemed a good idea to come to terms with his new abilities. "Fire is cool... sort of."

"Isn't fire also Phoenix's power?" Marco asked. "Still I don't recall you ever drawing blue flames."

"Because I don't like him!" Ace exclaimed. "First of all, it's unfair he got two powers and not only one. Plus he is so full of himself, a casanova-wannabe and he thinks he's funny with his bad puns..."

Marco looked at him curiously, and Ace shut his mouth close. "At least he looks like that to me," Ace ended, his gaze again to the screen of the computer.

Marco chuckled. "Don't worry, I prefer Fire Fist too."

***

Fire Fist's questions had raised a lot of questions in Marco's mind that he had buried down the moment he had decided to become a superhero. Seeing Ace researching about powers only cemented his decision to find out more about himself and about what he could do.

So, as soon as Ace left the library, Marco took his student’s place and copied down a list of some of the journals Ace was reading, along with the link of the website. When he returned home, he closed himself in his studio and started to investigate. It didn't take much to find out about Whitebeard and his story.

He was so focused on the journal, Marco didn't notice Edward walking into the room. But neither Marco nor any of his brothers cared about their privacy when it came to their father, and it was a habit in the family to not lock doors so everyone could access to any room at any time.

Edward took his time, pretending to check some books in the library, before walking towards Marco and peeking at what he was doing. Edward chuckled.

"Soldiers and superpowers?" he asked, amused. "It sounds like the plot of a very bad trash movie."

"It's not what it looks!" Not very often could one see Marco flustered, but this was one. Marco was considered the most serious family member, and so he had a reputation to maintain.

"So what is it?" Edward's smirk didn't fade.

"Well..."

No secrets in the family, except for his secret identity. Marco felt bad not having told anyone but Thatch about being Phoenix, not even the man he considered his father. At first Marco hadn't said anything because the entire story had looked ridiculous even to him.

Then it became too risky, with all the criminals around there. Marco told Thatch because holding the secret to himself was becoming a burden, but they both had agreed that it would have been better nobody else knew, for a matter of security.

But Edward Newgate was his father, a man Marco owed everything. He wouldn't be the person he was if he wouldn't have had Edward in his life. And if there was someone who could help him understand himself, that one was Edward.

But before Marco could open his mouth and speak, Edward became serious again.

"Son," he said. "We should talk about something."

"Oh?" Marco was surprised, and his mind rushed to imagine an argument. He knew Edward was old, so it could be something about his retirement or about his health. Two things Marco didn't like to think about, but he understood they should be dealt with sooner or later.

"Sure," he said then, gesturing his hand to the empty chair next to him.

But before Edward even got the chance to sit down, someone knocked the door and, a second later, Teach appeared.

"Hey, Pops," he greeted him, and the turned his attention to Marco. "Thatch called. Said you forgot about your date."

"Dammit." Marco rolled his eyes at the word 'date', but Thatch wasn't wrong about Marco forgetting to have promised Thatch he would accompany him for his Wednesday Grocery Shopping.

Marco reached for his cell phone; he forgot also to turn the volume on after leaving the university, and now the screen sparked with notices of messages and missing calls. Luckily Thatch wasn't a sensitive one, but Marco didn't like to disappoint any of his brothers.

"Sorry, I need to go." He stood up and took his jacket.

"Of course," Edward said. He already knew that. "We'll talk another time."

"Thank you, Teach." Marco said to him, who just nodded. "Thatch was waiting for me at the Parc De La Villette, right?"

"So he said," Teach answered. "But I can't guarantee he'll be still there."

Well, Thatch liked pranks, that was true, but he also considered the Wednesday Grocery Shopping as essential necessity and Marco didn't think Thatch was going to miss it only to make fun of him. Plus, Thatch was a lot more indulgent with him since he found out about the identity of Phoenix, so Marco wasn't worried.

And he was right. Thatch was sprawled on a bench, his face turned to the sunlight, head resting behind.

"Bud, finally!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw Marco. "I get you have to save people, but I need help too!"

Marco shot him a glare, because he didn't like the idea of Thatch insinuating something about his superhero activities in public, but then he couldn't help but feel bad because his delay had nothing to do with saving people.

"Yeah, sorry." He sat down next to him on the bench. "I got distracted. So, what is the plan for today?"

"Well, it's _late_ , so I propose just a quick visit al Le March d'Aligre." Thatch highlighted the word 'late' with a very sad voice, but Marco smiled.

"Which is your favorite market," he pointed out. "Looks like I didn't do too much damage."

"Well, you will if you keep slowing me down." Thatch jumped up. "Come on, come on, let's go."

Marco was still sitting down, smiling, but then dodged to the left to avoid Thatch grabbing him and dragging him around. He could walk, thank you very much.

"Coming, coming," he said, faking his annoyance.

But when he stood up, he clearly saw something piercing Thatch's back. Whatever it was, it exited by Thatch's abdomen with a spurt of blood and stuck itself in the wooden bench.

Involuntary, Marco bowed his head, fearing another shot. Thatch's legs trembled, but he looked too surprised to move, to even faint. Marco grabbed Thatch’s arm and pushed him forward. He heard the sound of another bullet - it was a bullet to begin with? - hitting the bench, so Marco hurried.

There was a small ice cream shop nearby, so Marco managed to hide both of them behind it, hoping the wall could shield them. He still heard the sound of the bullets following them, but they couldn't pass through the shop. From the screams around, it looked the other people in the park had noticed someone was shooting.

Marco swore to himself. He should transform and stop the sniper, but he couldn't leave Thatch like that. If only he had been the one hit... His blue flames would have healed him immediately.

Thatch, after the adrenaline rush of the blow ended, had lost his strength and let himself slump to the ground, back resting against the wall. He panted and was sweating, his hand pressed against his wound.

"Sorry, bud..." Thatch murmured. "Looks we'll miss our shopping date."

"Don't be ridiculous."

Marco was relieved Thatch could still joke despite the situation, but he was the worried one. With one hand he helped Thatch press against the wound to stop the bloody flow and with the other reached his cell phone to call an ambulance.

"There was a shooting at Parc De La Villet," Marco said, as soon as someone answered, and his tone was more collected than he actually was. "My friend was shot, lower back. The bulled went out from the abdomen."

"Where are you exactly?" The voice was cold, but Marco knew they should collect as much information as they need so they could reach them faster.

"We hid behind the ice cream shops, at the east corner of the park" Marco answered. "I can still hear shooting."

"We'll be there. If your friend is losing blood, press against the wound at best you can, and don't let him pass out." And they hung up.

Marco dropped the cell phone in the grass and turned back to Thatch, who was pale and with closed eyes.

"Don't sleep." Marco slapped Thatch until he blinked. "It's not the moment." Then Marco took off his jacked and pressed it with both hand on the wounds. His hands were already covered in blood and Marco swore.

If only he could transform... But he couldn't leave Thatch bleeding to death in the meantime.

The siren of the ambulance seemed near now, but as Marco took a step outside the ice cream shop, he felt a bullet pass too much near him. Soon after, it was followed by others, all of them bump the concrete wall they were hidden behind.

Even if the bullet couldn't hit them, they prevented Marco and Thatch from reaching the ambulance. It would be too risky, they would be fully exposed, but if they remained there, Thatch could die.

And then the sound of the bullets stopped. A familiar crackling reached Marco's ears, before a wall of fire rose from the ground, making a cover for them. Fire Fist stood in the middle, as the flames weren't hot at all, and he turned his head only a little to look at Marco.

"Go. The ambulance is waiting, I'll cover you."

Marco knew every single part of the man in front of him, but not the way he was looking at him. Sure, he was just an ordinary man now, so it was understandable, but it made Marco feel almost naked.

"Thank you," he mumbled, but Fire Fist's attention wasn't on them anymore. So Marco sighed, and quickly pulled Thatch onto his back and ran towards the ambulance, leaving Fire Fist fighting alone for the first time since their forced partnership.

The healthcare assistants let Marco in the ambulance with them, but they were too busy dealing with Thatch's wound to pay any attention to him, or even give him some hope. Marco kept his head low, eyes fixed on his bloody hands.

He failed everyone. He failed Thatch, and now he was failing Fire Fist too.

At the hospital, Thatch was brought into the operation room, and Marco was left in the care of a doctor, just to check that he wasn't hurt too. As soon as the doctor was sure he was okay, they let him stay in the waiting room. Marco went to the bathroom to wash his hands and face, but he couldn't do anything for his shirt, which still showed all the signs of the shooting.

When he returned in the waiting room, the television was broadcasting a special newscast about the shooting. It seemed Thatch was the only casualty, and that Fire Fist's arrival was enough for the sniper to escape, even if that meant he wasn't arrested.

Marco sighed. At least Fire Fist was safe, and the other people too. Thatch could still pull through it. Marco needed to call Edward and the others, but then he remembered he had left his cell phone in the park. Great.

He groaned and let himself rest on the uncomfortable chair of the waiting room.

He hoped to ask some of the staff to lend him a phone as soon as he had news about Thatch's condition, but the first person to approach him was a policeman.

Smoker, nevertheless. Another man Marco was used to meeting in totally different circumstances.

"Professor Newgate?"

"That's me," Marco answered. "How can I help you?"

"I'd like for you to follow me to the police station."

"I will have no problem in giving you a statement, but right now my brother is in the operation room."

"I understand that, but I'm sorry I have to insist." Smoker looked a lot more empathetic speaking with normal people than when he did it with superheroes. "Is there some other relatives you could call?"

"Sure." Marco sighed resigned. "But you need to lend me a phone."

***

Marco was expecting the police to ask him about the shooting. He actually hadn't seen much, having been focused solely on in bringing Thatch to a safe place. But the longer their questions went on, more Marco thought there was something off in Smoker and his assistant Tashigi's behavior.

He didn't ask, though.

"Okay, let's speak about the moment before the shooting." Smoker turned around his desk and placed two chairs close. "This is the bench. Both you and your brother were sitting there. Then?"

"Well, Thatch stood up and got shot."

"No." Smoker bit his cigar. "I'd like you to describe everything that happened, in detail."

"Okay." Marco nodded, trying to recall his memory. Everything was so ordinary, and fast, it wasn't easy to tell. "Thatch stood up. He tried to grab me, so I moved-"

"You moved on the left or on the right?" Smoker interrupted him. "And your brother was in front of you?"

Marco moved his arms to help his memory. "On my left. And yes, he was in front of me before I shifted. He wasn't before, he was next to me, then he moved and I moved..." His voice trailed off, as Smoker nodded to Tashigi.

Marco watched Tashigi sat down in the chair on the right, while Smoker stood at her next. Then Smoker moved in front of here.

"How tall are you? And your brother?"

"I'm 1.90. And Thatch is more or less like me... 1.88, I think...?"

Tashigi lifted her arm and place the hand on Smoker's abdomen, where Thatch was hit. Then she drew an imaginary line, the path the bullet took after exit from Thatch's body. Her fingers were about to touch her breast, when a policeman knocked the door, and Tashigi stopped midair.

"What?" Smoker snapped, annoyed.

"Mister Newgate is here," the policeman said. "Edward Newgate," he specified. "He wants to see his son... And he’s not a man we can say no to."

"That's what you believe," Smoker grumbled, but then he passed his gaze on Marco, who hadn't said anything, and sighed. "Let him in."

The policeman nodded, and left the room. A second later, his figure was replaced by the enormous one of Edward. He didn't look pleased.

"I can't believe you dared!" was the first thing he said. "My son almost lost his life and your best choice of action was to lock another or my sons here?"

"I'm fine, Pops," Marco said gently, but with a soft smile on his lips. "It's not like they kidnapped me. They're doing their job so they could catch the shooter."

Edward still glared at Smoker, but Marco's words managed to calm him down. "If you say so, son."

"How's Thatch?"

"He survived." There's a lot of relief in those two words. "Right now he is in a drug induced coma, but the doctors said the bullet didn't hit any vital spot. He'll recover."

All the weight on Marco's shoulders disappeared. "Are the others informed?"

"Yes. Izou and Vista are still at the hospital, waiting for everyone else. We should go back too."

"Not so fast," Smoker intervened.

"What?" Newgate glared at him and Marco was impressed that Smoker didn't even flinch. Not many men were brave enough to sustain that look. "I'm pretty sure my son already told you everything you could need."

"Pops..." Marco murmured. "It's okay. It's not like they're accusing me of being the shooter."

"On the contrary." Tashigi, who was drawing something on the board, commented. "We suspected Professor Newgate to be the real target of the shooter."

It was something Marco started to imagine when the two policeman recreated the scene of Thatch's attack, but for Edward it was a totally new information. He grabbed a chair too small for him and sat down.

"I'm listening."

Smoker returned to his desk. "As have you heard, nobody else got hurt. And from the preliminary investigation the ballistics told us the shooting was concentrated only around the bench and the ice cream shop," he explained. "A sniper without a target wouldn't have been so focused in a place where he had an entire park, a very open space, full of people. No, he was aiming at one specific person."

"Of course, our first hypothesis was for the target to be Mister Thatch Newgate," Tashigi added. "But after we began investigating the situation, it seemed unlikely." She moved her hand to point her draw on the board. "If you took Mister Thatch Newgate out of the picture, it's clear that the bullet would have hit Professor Newgate right in the chest. Probably very close to the heart."

"Immediate death," Smoker clarified. "The sniper was very far, and everything happened very fast." His gaze was on Marco. "He shot at you, but then your brother moved in front of you, and you moved to the left so you avoided it."

"So my brother was shot because of me?" Marco said. His hands were trembling.

"Your movements saved both of you," Tashigi said, smiling gently. "Since the sniper wasn't aiming at him, Mister Thatch Newgate wasn't hit in a vital spot."

Edward stopped looking at Smoker and focused on Marco. "Let's say you convinced me. What are you going do about that?"

"Catch the sniper, of course," Smoker answered. "And it could be easy if Professor Marco has enemies he could name."

"I don't have any enemies," Marco answered. He was still paralyzed by the thought of Thatch being hurt because of him. "I'm just a professor. Sure, I had some arguments with my colleagues and with some of my students, but nothing so serious to be killed for."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Smoker commented, and for the first time an amused smile appeared on his face.

"Someone who could gain advantages from your death? It happens often that brothers..." Tashigi stopped, because the looks Marco and Edward gave her were enough for her to get she crossed a line. "I apologize. I had to ask."

"None of my brothers would ever do something like that," Marco said, and his voice was dangerous. "And nobody could gain something from my death. Sure, the university should hire another professor, but there would be a public selection."

He was lying. Not entirely, it was true Professor Newgate had no enemies. Phoenix, though, was a different matter. Marco was always careful, but if somebody had found out about his secret identity... Well then, the number of suspects would have become unlimited.

Smoker scrutinized him, as he also knew Marco was lying, but then his face relaxed. "Well, I think that's all, for now," he said. "Of course, now that we know you're the target of a killer, we'll grant you protection."

"I don't need your protection," Marco retorted. With some policemen following him around he wouldn't be able to turn into Phoenix and hunt down the sniper himself. Plus, he wasn't scared from a bullet wound he could recover from.

"Not even mine?"

The four people in the room immediately turned their attention to the door, Fire Fist was there, his shoulder rested lazily on the wall, arms crossed, a confident smirk on his face.

"How long were you there?" Smoker jumped up so fast the cigars fell from his mouth and almost started a fire with the paper on the table, but Tashigi hurried to extinguish it. "And how did you manage to sneak here in the first place?"

"From the front door." Fire Fist's expression was innocent. "I just asked and the policemen had no problem in letting me in. Some of them even asked for an autograph."

Smoker groaned. "I work with a bunch of idiots."

"You should learn from them, Smokey," Fire Fist smiled, coming closer. "They're nicer than you."

"We're not paid for being nice." Smoker grumbled. "Why are you here?"

"As I said, I'm here to offer my services." Fire Fist's face turned a little towards Marco. Before Smoker could add something, Fire Fist went on, "Let's be clear, the sniper has superpowers, you are fully aware of that."

"That's what you say."

"Com'on." Fire Fist widened his arms. "He was so far you didn't even find the spot he was shooting from. No one is so skilled. Plus, even the experts said the bullets were so twisted it couldn't be a normal shooting. Yes, I spoke with them before coming here."

Fire Fist ended his explanation with a satisfied smile, and Marco found himself to be smiling too. Maybe Smoker saw Fire Fist just as an outlaw who was good only because of his powers, but Marco knew better. And Smoker himself couldn't rebut any of Fire Fist's arguments.

"You can't catch him, and you can't protect anyone from him," Fire Fist added. "But I can."

"I'm okay with that," Marco said. The sentence earned him a wide happy smile from Fire Fist Marco couldn't get tired of, so he smiled back.

"I don't think..." Smoker began.

"If my son agrees, I don't see any reasons not to." Edward spoke in a very serious tone. He didn't show any particular reaction to Fire Fist, not admiration nor annoyance, but he respected Marco's decision. "Of course, if something happens to my son, I won't be happy." And he glared at Fire Fist with a very meaningful look.

Fire Fist appeared surprised by it, but then nodded. "Nothing will happen."

Smoker sighed. He hadn't any more power to decide. "I'll still send some of my men to supervise the situation."

Marco shrugged, he didn't care. All he cared about now, was that Thatch was safe, and it was with that gentle smile Fire Fist was directing at him.


	4. Chapter Four

Ace had spent basically an entire year trying to get a date with Marco. And now, finally, here were they. Sure, it wasn't exactly how Ace imagined it; not with him as Fire Fist, and with a sniper who was trying to kill Marco but, well, it was a start.

Ace had a chance of getting to know Marco outside of him being a professor and he wasn't going to waste it. There was also no way he would let Marco get killed either.

But for all that day, that night, and the morning after the shooting, Ace spent time watching over Marco from a distance. After all, he wanted the sniper to think he had had plenty of openings to target Marco again. But nothing happened and Ace just couldn’t hang out in the distance when he finally had a chance to hang out with Marco – who, if he recalled right, had said once he actually liked him, as Fire Fist.

So sure, Ace hadn't been entirely unbiased when he had proposed to go out to a bar to get something for lunch after Marco's lesson, with the excuse to lure the sniper out instead of waiting for him to attack when they didn't expect him to do. But Marco didn't seem to mind too much.

So they sat down at a table at a nice restaurant in Rue Rataud. Ace made sure Marco's back faced the wall so he was safe from any attack from behind, and Ace was forced to wore a leather jacket and a baseball hat to disguise himself - Marco's words, the sniper wouldn't have attacked knowing Ace was there, and Ace was okay with that mostly because he didn't want any of his fans to interrupt their meal.

So yeah, it was a pretty strange date, but a date nevertheless. Or at least Ace liked to refer to their lunch as such.

"So, you're an art professor, eh?" Ace stated, after the waiter took their order.

Marco looked surprised by Ace suddenly speaking, but then nodded. "I am. Sorry if I forced you to listen to one of my lesson."

"It didn't feel forced at all," Ace assured. Well, truthfully, he should have attended that lesson as a student. "It was interesting."

"Really?"

"Why do you look so surprised?" Ace laughed.

"I don't know," Marco admitted. "I mean, you're a superhero, you save lives every day, while I'm just an ordinary art professor."

"Art isn't ordinary at all. Quite the contrary. It feels... liberating." Ace smiled, recalling the feeling he had while painting. "Saving people, on the other hands... Doctors do that all the time and nobody give them a shit for that. I'm the ordinary one here."

The waiter came back with their dishes, so between them the silence returned as they started eating. Ace was thankful that as Fire Fist he wouldn't have any narcoleptic attacks, but he still focused his attention on the food while thinking of a way of restart the conversation.

Then he heard Marco chuckle, and he lifted an eyebrow, perplexed.

"Sorry," Marco said. "I find this entire situation funny. I've never imagined to have lunch with Paris' favorite superhero, let alone hear him saying something about being ordinary."

Ace smiled. "But it's true."

"Well, that's probably what makes you so special."

"I can’t say the same thing about you," Ace retorted. "Like you pointed out so well, I'm the hero of Paris. Still you don't seem to be fazed much by it."

And then he smiled again, showing he didn't mind at all Marco's attitude. On the contrary, it just increased Ace's appreciation of him.

Marco blinked. "Well, maybe it's because I think there's a man behind that mask. And a man who appreciates art is a man _I_ appreciate."

A man behind the mask... Ace wondered for an instant what Marco would think if he knew the truth. But he dismissed the idea soon enough. There was a reason why Ace didn't tell anyone anything; not even his brothers and that reason couldn't be forgotten just because it was Marco in front of him.

"Unfortunately, you don't have a date with the man behind the mask." And unfortunately Ace thought it was, giving how much would have preferred it being a real date with the real him. "That said, I'd enjoy a little conversation to kill some time."

"I'm fine with that."

Ace took that as a chance to bring the conversation back to Marco. "So, Professor... Are you gonna show me some of your art?"

"And how do you know I'm also an artist?" Marco's eyes shined in amusement.

"The way you teach. You love what you do." It wasn't Ace stalking everything Marco had done in the past and found out about some older pieces by him, not at all.

"You got me," Marco admitted, but he didn’t seem disappointed. "But I don't have anything with me."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you can take a shot. For me?" he added, tilting his head to the side.

Marco looked around, then he bent down to take a pen from his bag. Then he grabbed the paper handkerchief and opened it wide in front of him.

"Don't be disappointed then," he commented, as he started drawing.

"I won't," Ace assured. He had seen Marco draw on the board many times, but those were only examples for the lecture he was explaining at the time. He was curious and excited to see something original from him.

"Actually, I'd like to show you some pieces made by one of my student," Marco said. "He's a fan of yours and chose fire as the subject of his _Travaux Pratique_."

"Oh, really?" Ace held his breath: Marco was talking about him! Marco was fucking talking about him with Fire Fist!

Marco nodded. "He's one of my best students. I'm pretty sure you'll adore his pieces."

"Do you?"

"Yes. They're amazing."

Marco praised Ace's works in the past, but this time was different. This time it wasn't a teacher encouraging his student. They were Marco's real thoughts, thoughts he was okay sharing with a stranger wearing a mask.

"You really like this student, don't you?"

"I do," Marco answered, still focused on what he was drawing. Then stopped, lifted his head and saw the smirk on Ace's face. "Not in _that_ way," he clarified.

"Well, it didn't sound like that." More than Ace, his desire to be in that way was talking.

"I've been Ace's teacher for almost a year now," Marco explained. "Yes, I like him. I appreciate both his talent and his personality. But he's my student, I can't see him in any other way than that."

"Why not?" Ace asked, and it sounded more frustrated than curious. "I mean, you teach in university, we're not talking about children. We're talking about people who already decided about their future. I'm pretty sure they're fully capable of deciding who they like."

As they were capable to live while taking care of a little brother without having any parents or help from anyone else, Ace added mentally.

"It's not about that," Marco said. "I won't negate my students' intelligence and maturity. But my position puts me on a different level, one I must stand above for their behalf. You can't be a good teacher otherwise. You have to be there for them in a certain way and not in another."

"Looks like something you decided..." Ace's tone was disappointed.

All Marco said was something he already knew, because Marco had told him many times. Ace hoped Marco was just hiding his feelings, but no, he definitely thought what he had said.

"Maybe." Marco returned to his handkerchief. "But I'm a good teacher and I'd like it to stay this way."

For a while, the silence stood between them. Marco was focused on drawing and Ace was wondering if it would be useful to keep talking when Marco was clearly not interested in him.

"Okay, done." Marco put down the pen and handed the handkerchief to Ace, who took it. Despite everything, Ace was curious to see it. And it was worth it!

Marco had drawn a hand, palm up and fingers bent except for the index and the medium ones: from their fingerprints erupted some flames. It didn't take a leap of imagination for Ace to get Marco was inspired by Ace himself. Ace was amazed by how alive the hand and the fire looked, even if they were made with a pen and a paper napkin.

"It's beautiful."

"It's just a sketch," Marco minimized.

"Wonder why you became a teacher when you have so much talent."

"I’ll take that as a compliment. But I like being a teacher better." Ace looked at him, a silent question in his eyes, so Marco continued, "I had a person in my life who inspired me, so I'd like to be able to do the same for all my students."

Ace's grip on the napkin tightened, and he was about to say something, but then he felt it. He jumped on the table, grabbing Marco by the shoulders and dragged him to the ground just as the bullet hit the wall Marco was sitting against a second before.

"You okay?" Ace asked.

Marco nodded.

"It's him," Ace stated, even if it was unnecessary. "I won't let him escape this time. You stay here and trust me."

"I already do."

Ace looked at him one last time, uncertain if he should add something, but in the end he stood up without a word. The sniper was fast, Ace saw it the first time they had met, but back then Ace had lost time waiting for Marco to reach the ambulance. Now Marco was safe, so Ace could focus on his enemy.

He left the restaurant and noticed that the bullet, before breaking the wide window aiming at Marco, had passed through the palace on the other side of the street. Not only was the sniper able to shot from a long distance, he was also capable to see through objects.

Ace jumped on top of the palace and reached the edge of the roof, searching for the entrance hole of the bullet. After finding it, it was easy following the route to the other palace in front, and so on. When Ace started to be far from the restaurant, he spotted a figure on the roof.

The sniper!

But before Ace could accelerate to reach him, a blink of blue flames passed at his side. Phoenix was faster than Ace because of his wings and he followed the sniper, that jumped from the roof. Ace snorted at being left behind, but didn't lose track of the two men, managing to pursue them.

For a second, Phoenix wasn't in Ace's sight anymore, but Ace saw clearly down which street the sniper tried to escape. When he stepped into it, the other end of the road was already blocked by Phoenix, while Ace stood on the opposite side. The sniper was surrounded by two not very happy superheroes and by very high walls.

He was trapped, and he noticed it. Slowly, he crouched down as Ace and Phoenix walked in his direction, and placed his rifle on the ground. The he stood up again, hands lifted in the air while he stepped back, leaving his back against one of the buildings.

Ace observed him: it was a very tall man in his mid-thirties, with a very pointed chin and a monocle on his left eye. In his memory, such a man wasn't in any way associated with Marco. Still, Marco had probably a lot of things Ace didn't know about. He careful reached for the rifle and broke it in half against his knee.

Phoenix sighed. "It was too easy. You could have at least put up some fight."

Ace rolled his eyes. "The important thing is for M- for Professor Newgate to be safe."

"I'm a sniper, I can't combat hand to hand," the man said. His voice was low, not angry. Not even accepting, he was just stating facts. "The moment you trapped me I lost. It was destiny, I suppose."

"Then speak." Ace reached him and grabbed him for the neck, lifting him and smashed him against the wall. "Why did you want to kill Ma- I mean Professor Newgate?"

"Does it matter? I won't be able to anymore."

"It matters," Ace pressed.

The sniper looked calm, as he wasn't threatened at all. "I can tell you something," he said, at last. "There will be a time when you two won't be enough. When we will be many more. That moment will come. It is destiny for Blackbeard to win."

That name made Ace jolt, and he almost lost the grip on the man's neck. He turned his head to search some comfort in Phoenix, who stood here with wide eyes.

"Blackbeard?"

Ace came back to press the sniper. "Who is he? Who are you talking about?" But the sniper didn't speak again, just looked at him with empty eyes until the hold became too strong and made him pass out.

"Looks like we found us a super villain," Phoenix commented bluntly.

Ace stared at the unconscious body at his feet. "I wonder... Have you ever heard about a man called Whitebeard?"

"The soldier that created earthquakes? Yeah, I've heard about it."

It was only natural, like Ace even Phoenix could have investigated their powers' origins, so Ace hadn't any reason to feel disappointed, yet he was because Phoenix wasn't surprised by the news.

"Well, I don't think the alias Blackbeard is a coincidence."

"I don't either," Phoenix agreed. "Looks like we had to find this Whitebeard person."

"If he's still alive..." And at the word alive Ace recalled having left Marco alone in the restaurant. Sure, the sniper never had the chance to shot twice this time, still Ace felt bad. He shouldn't have let him alone for so long. "But I had to go, better speak about this another time."

"Oh, your little professor needs you again? Saving his life wasn't enough? He's greedy, isn't he?"

And, for the first time, Phoenix's remarks weren't funny. Neither was his tone. Ace looked at him surprised and he noticed anger in his eyes, the only thing Ace could see of his face. That sentence wasn't one of Phoenix's usual sarcastic remarks. Phoenix acted like he despised Marco.

But Ace didn't have time to deal with whatever things Phoenix had in his mind. Marco needed him. So he just shrugged and jumped on the roof again. He returned in the restaurant in no time, but Marco wasn't there, the place was empty.

"Marco!" he called. He turned to the table they were eating at before, where Ace had left him, but the entire room was empty. "Marco!" he called again.

"I'm here."

Ace turned so fast his neck almost snapped. Marco stood at the entrance of the restaurant. His face was pale, but he was okay. Sighing in relief, Ace reached him.

"I told you to stay hidden," he said.

"Sorry. The owner of the restaurant made all of us escape."

"Oh, well..." Ace nodded. "I caught the sniper. You're safe now." Well, actually he didn't exactly catch him, but that was the police's work. He would call them later to arrest the sniper.

"Like I said, I didn't have a doubt about that."

They stared at each other for a long time and Ace was uncertain. Now that Marco wasn't in danger anymore, there was no reason for them to see each other again. And Ace wouldn't miss the chance, especially because he knew the truth now.

So he just leaned forward and kissed him, gripping the neck of his shirt with trembling hands. Ace expected it to be just a fast kiss, but then he felt Marco's lips moving, and Marco's hand pressed on his cheek, so Ace was drawn in by the moment.

Both of them kept their eyes focused one in the other, but when they separated they avoided the look and parted ways without a goodbye.

***

"So, let's me get this straight" Thatch commented. "The man who shot me was someone you beat years ago in an art contest and he wanted to kill you for it?"

Marco nodded. Officer Smoker had called him the day after the sniper's arrest, to be sure Marco knew he was safe now. The sniper's power was in his rifle, and since his motivation was personal, it was sure to say nobody else would assault Marco. Plus, the sniper was already in prison. Marco was glad Smoker had called him, otherwise he could have thought forever Blackbeard had someway found out his identity and that was the reason for the sniper to kill him.

Thatch laughed. "Man, and I'm supposed to be the troublemaker one here!"

"I'm sorry." Marco appreciated Thatch was joking despite what happened to him, but Marco couldn't help but felt guilt about that. And the fact Thatch was still in hospital, forced in a bed wasn't helpful either.

"It's okay." Thatch patted Marco's arm. "But, if you really want to be forgive, I'm pretty sure I can find something to ask you." Thatch's smile made Marco shivered, but for once he didn't feel able to contradict him.

"So... First thing first... Tell me about you and Fire Fist," Thatch continued. "Izou said he was your bodyguard for a while... Isn't that ironic, Mister Phoenix?"

Marco looked at Thatch, wondering what he could tell. He could lie, just explained that Fire Fist was there to protect him so he watched him by far, without any contact between them. But Thatch have been helped him since day one, so Marco should be honest with him.

"We kissed."

"What?!" Thatch jumped on his place. "Ouch," he whined a second later, his hand pressed on his side, where it was the still fresh wound.

"Be careful," Marco said, not hiding the satisfaction smile that appeared on his mouth. "You don't want to end up in the operation room again, do you?"

"And who fault is it?" Thatch complained. "Put trigger warning before!" Then he rested his back again on the pillow. "Wow, man, really, I'm surprised. It didn't look Fire Fist was so much into Phoenix last time we spoke."

Yeah, that was the problem. Marco swallowed.

"Fire fist didn't kiss Phoenix. He kissed me... the real _me_."

And that was the amazed thing of everything. Since Marco turned in a superhero he tried to be someone else too, someone he couldn't be in the real life because he had responsibility and everything. Phoenix was a part of him Marco didn't even realize to have, the confident sarcastic superhero so different from the ordinary art professor who was always eager to help others.

And, in the end, Fire Fist kissed the ordinary art professor.

"Wow... Wow..." Thatch lost the ability of speak and kept repeating the same word for a while. "How that happened?"

"Not sure" Marco admitted. "We had lunch together, we talked, then he fought the sniper and came back to tell me he won..."

Thatch nodded. "Well, man, I've always been against all this story, but maybe I was wrong."

"You weren't."

"No, no," Thatch retorted. "Sure, you still don't know who he is, but you started to know him, actually know him. And he likes you... The one he saw behind the mask. It's a start."

"Yeah, I just need to find another man who wants to kill me and it's done" Marco commented gloomy.

Thatch frowned. "Why are you so negative? It was what you wanted! Or maybe Fire Fist isn't attractive anymore now you met him for a date?"

"No." On the contrary, Marco found himself even more attracted by him. "It's just... complicated."

As long as his relationship with Fire Fist was limited to their fights against crime, Marco was fine with it. They had something special, they were alone. They didn't know anything about the other and things worked perfectly. Marco imagined their story to develop as superhero.

But now... It was strange, because Fire Fist didn't know everything Marco did. Marco took advantage of him being Phoenix, while Fire Fist saw him as a normal man he had just met. It wasn't fair... So Marco wasn't sure it was right to even try to have a relationship with Fire Fist without telling him the truth.

Marco was so angry he became jealous of himself: probably Fire Fist had thought Phoenix had gone mad for how bad he had reacted back then.

Let aside it was possible Fire Fist had already forgot about Marco, classifying him as another person he had saved. Sure, Marco didn't recall Fire Fist even kissing someone they had helped like it happened between the two of them, but still...

Thatch patted Marco's shoulder. "At least, he is a good kisser?"

"Yeah." Marco smiled. "He is."

***

When Ace returned home, he found Luffy and Sabo sitting at the kitchen table. Luffy was studying and Sabo had his laptop in front of him. They both stared at Ace as if they saw a ghost.

"Ace!" Luffy jumped still and hurried to hug Ace, basically risking smashing him on the ground. "Where the hell did you go? It's been an entire day!"

"God, Luffy, you're killing me" Ace said, as he pushed him away. "I sent you a message, I was working."

"Yes, but..." Luffy complained. He shot a glare at Sabo, searching for help.

Sabo, instead, was looking at Ace with a very peculiar look on his face; the one that said I-don't-believe-your-bullshit-and-now-you're-gonna-tell-me-everything. But Ace wasn't sure he could deal with his brother right now.

"I'm sorry, Luffy," he said, "but I was really busy and now I'm tired."

He patted Luffy's back in a sort of comfort gesture, then he climbed the stairs to reach his bedroom. He fell on the bed and let his head drown on the pillow. He was hungry and he needed a shower, but for now he just wanted to rest.

Obviously he couldn't.

Sabo entered in the room without knocking and sat down on the desk's chair. He didn't speak, just stared at Ace who was pretending to not notice him.

"What happened?" Sabo asked at last, since Ace was keeping his back at him.

"Nothing."

"Don't nothing me." Sabo replied. "You can fool Luffy, but not me; especially because I know something more."

Ace groaned and cursed the day he had been so carefree that Sabo had found out his secret identity.

"You spent hours protecting the professor you had a crush for and then you returned here... like this?" Sabo continued.

Ace groaned again. Why the hell had he been so stupid to tell Sabo about him having to protect Marco? He wouldn't have known in other way, since the police had done everything to hide it, so Ace could avoid the press.

"Ace..."

For a third time, Ace groaned but sat up on the bed and actually looked at Sabo, at his worried blue eyes. "We had lunch together, we talked... and there was no use, I'm his student and he can't see me in any other way."

Sabo raise an eyebrow. "You didn't tell him about your identity, right?"

"Of course not!" Ace was outraged; he wasn't so stupid. "But I managed to speak about it... I thought that maybe, maybe, with a stranger Marco would have spoken differently... but no. Things are like that."

"I'm sorry," Sabo said sincerely.

"There's worse," Ace sighed, "I kissed him."

"Oh." Sabo's expression was a mixture between surprise and pleasure.

"And Marco kissed me back... He kissed back Fire Fist," Ace concluded, before lying down in the bed again.

"And this is negative because...?"

"Well, maybe Marco likes me... A part of me, at least," Ace explained. "But Fire Fist isn't the man he thinks he is. If Marco find out who I really am... I'm his student and that's enough for him."

Ace could have appreciated the irony of having his crush liking him only because he didn't know him if it wasn't so sad.

"Well, then date him as Fire Fist."

"Come on, Sabo." Ace glared at him. "How can that work? Plus... I'm not a liar. I can't deceive Marco."

"Yeah, you can't build a relationship hiding basically all of yourself," Sabo agreed, with a sigh. "But, in my opinion, he's the one wrong here."

The Sabo stood up and left the room without adding anything else. Ace followed his back until the door closed, then he rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep and forgot for a while the feeling of Marco's lips on his mouth and the way Marco's looked at him.

He was half-sleeping when he felt someone sat down in the bed next to him in a very not-delicate manner. Ace opened his eyes to see Luffy, legs crossed, and with a giant basket full of popcorn in his arms. Ace turned right-side up to look around the room; Sabo was busy with the television.

"What?"

"Shishishi, we'll watch a movie," Luffy explained with a big smile, "Lego Movie."

"Luffy chose it, so don't complain. I didn't make the rules," Sabo added, as he pressed play. On the screen the credits began to play.

"But I was trying to sleep here!" Ace protested.

Luffy ignored him, his head already focused on the film, while he grabbed a fistful of popcorn and then stuffed it in his mouth. Sabo sat down to the other side of the bed and passed Ace a Coke.

"Shut up and watch the movie."

Ace would protest again, but even if they didn't speak, he understood they just wanted to comfort him. So he grabbed the can and took a sip to hide the slight smile that was appearing on his face.


	5. Chapter Five

No matter how much Marco searched, Whitebeard seemed to be just a legend. It wasn't unusual for soldiers to disappear after the war, since they were known only by nicknames and most of them had returned to a normal life once their mission had been completed.

Still, Marco felt frustrate he didn't get any clue about Whitebeard. So he closed the cover of his laptop with too much strength as he said: "Please, come in!" to whoever had knocked at his door.

His expression softened as he saw Ace entered in the room. "Thank you for coming."

Ace nodded. "What do you need from me, professor?"

"I've noticed you miss some lessons of your _Travaux Pratique_." Marco was taken back from Ace's attitude, which was pretty different from usual, but still managed to explain why he had asked Ace to come in his office. "And most of your projects are still unfinished."

"I've been busy." Ace scoffed.

It wasn't an answer Marco liked. "Please, sit down." He gestured to the chair in front of his deck with his hand and waited for Ace to obey before went on. "I understand we have a life outside school and I can be a little flexible about presence in class if you need it, but the _Travaux_ will end in one month and I want to be sure you'll be able to complete all your pieces."

Ace nodded again, but said nothing. Marco knew there was something off with him.

"If you have some problems, you can speak with me," he offered. "I'm your teacher."

Ace rested his gaze on Marco, his grey eyes missed their usual sparks. "I just haven't had any more ideas about fire."

"You should have spoken about this with me before." Marco was actually angry with himself for not noting Ace was losing his will of drawing. It was his role as teacher understand his students. "Are you free now?"

"I don't have lessons anymore."

"Perfect, so we can work on getting your ideas back." Marco opened a drawer of his desk and took a notebook. Then placed it in front of Ace and moved the pen tray towards him. It was full of different kind of pens, pencils, markers and highlighter. "I'd like you to draw now, only with the things you have a disposal here," Marco explained.

"I don't feel like it," Ace said, staring at the notebook.

"I understand that," Marco nodded. "But please, I'd like you to try. You don't have to focus on something in particular, you can just draw some sketches without thinking. We'll have a little chat so you can let your instinct draw for you. We can also have a coffee," Marco added, with a little smile, remembering how many times Ace had tried to ask him out.

Ace didn't look happy, but nodded. He chose a pencil from the pen tray and opened the notebook. He looked at it for a while, then he put his elbow on the desk and, resting the head on his hand, he started scribbled on it.

"I'll tell you a secret," Marco said. He couldn't stand the silence, plus chatting was the point of his method. "I've met Fire Fist."

Ace's eyes shifted from the notebook to him. "Really?" he said.

Marco nodded. "I spoke with him about your pieces about fire. He was interested."

"Great," Ace commented. "Another person I'll disappoint since I won't finish them."

"You won't disappoint anyone," Marco assured him. Damn, a part of him wanted to ask Fire Fist to actually meet Ace, maybe that would help him recover his inspiration. But Marco hadn't met Fire Fist again and he sure couldn't ask anything as Phoenix.

"Okay," Ace shrugged.

Marco decided to chance subject. "Tell me what you did yesterday."

For a second, Ace remained silent, his hands stopped. Then a smile appeared on his face.

"Luffy used the washing machine and the result was that we spent the afternoon cleaning the house from all the soap."

Marco chuckled. "Who's Luffy?"

"My little brother." Ace's tone was soft.

"Ah, so you have a brother!"

"I have two, actually," Ace corrected him. "But Sabo is my age. Only Luffy is the little one. And the troublesome one; I don't know how he can survive without us." Ace's hand became steadier as he drew.

"Now that I recall, one of your pieces last year was about two boys in a park," Marco commented. "To be honest, they felt too natural to be made up. I never thought they could be your brothers though."

"Well, they're not my real brothers." Ace explained. "Luffy is the grandson of the man that adopted me, and Sabo is a close friend of mine. But we considered ourselves brothers nevertheless. Sabo hates his family, so he moved in with us as soon as he became an adult. Gramps is always out for work, so we take care one of another."

"What do they do?"

"Sabo studies journalism at the public university, and he works in his free time in a computer shop. He's kind of a hacker." Ace's smile widened and his hand quickened as he drew. "Luffy is still in high school, but he wants to travel through the world as a vagabond. He's a crazy kid. Sabo and I still keep some funding for university if he changes his mind."

"Your grandfather doesn't help?"

"He sends us some money every month, but that’s only enough for ordinary expenses. Both me and Sabo worked in high school to pay for our university lessons."

Marco knew Ace's family situation wasn't an ordinary one, since his parents died and he was adopted, but he hadn't realized until now how much responsibility he had. His lack of ideas was justified.

"I understand you," Marco murmured. "All of my brothers are adopted. Well, I am too."

For the first time, Ace moved his attention from the notebook to him and he seemed a lot more relaxed than before. "You have brothers?"

"Too many," Marco chuckled. "My father is Edward Newgate and while he has never gotten married, he took care of a lot of orphans. Most of us consider him our real father and decided to take his name and remain with him even when we became adults."

Ace frowned. "Wait! So Izou Newgate is one of your brothers? The famous stylist?"

"Keep drawing," Marco ordered gently, then answered: "Yes, he's one of them. And another one is Vista, the Fencer Olympic Champion. But not all of them are so famous, most are ordinary men like me."

"You could have famous too," Ace stated. "A famous artist."

"Maybe. But I prefer to be a teacher."

Ace left the pencil on the desk and took a pen. "I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not."

"What do you mean?"

But before Ace could answer, the room became suddenly darker, despite being still early afternoon.

"Is it a black out?" Ace asked.

"No, definitely not a black out," Marco answered, as he saw a black fluid cover the windows of the office.

He stood up and switched on the light: the windows were totally covered, as if someone had painted them with black paint. Marco reached for the door, but as he saw Ace moving to follow, he lifted his hand to stop him.

"Stay here," Marco ordered. "You'll be safer. I'll go check the situation."

He expected Ace to protest, but Ace just nodded and sat back on the chair. So Marco left the room and closed the door behind him, thankful Ace hadn't point out how risky could be remain alone in a place during a situation of danger.

To be honest, Marco's decision was forced by the need to transform safely, something he couldn't do with Ace, but he promised himself he would resolve the situation before Ace could get in actual danger. The other professors had noticed the danger and were gathering in the hallway to check about it. The same black liquid that covered the windows was spreading on the walls, covering the lamps, so the place became darker and darker.

Without the others noticed, Marco got to the nearest bathroom and transformed himself. The light of his blue flames lit up the area around him, helping him to see around despite the fact all the lamps were now darkened.

The hallway full of professors was now silent. Marco walked cautiously, until he saw some bodies on the ground. He checked them frantically, but they were only sleeping. Still, he hurried to the place the dark liquid came from and where some voices could still be heard: the main hall of the university.

It was also the only place where light, even if barely, penetrated from the outside from the glass dome of the ceiling. Marco entered in the main hall from one of the doors off the stairs and, from there, he had a clear visual of the culprit: a very fat man with gothic clothes who laughed like a mad man. Some other people laid sleeping on the floor, but around the culprit there was a lot of mannequins that moved as if they were alive.

"Every time it gets stranger and stranger," Marco commented.

"Yeah, I thought I've seen enough of him."

Marco turned his attention to Headmaster Sengoku who, a torch in his hand, didn't look too fazed by the entire situation.

"Do you know who he is?"

"Unfortunately," Sengoku nodded, "he's Gekko Moria. He used to teach here. He was fired when we found out he was a serial killer and most of his dolls were made with human flesh he stole from the people he had killed."

"You should hire a better examiner." And Marco meant it, since he worked in the university too.

"What did he do to everyone?" Fire Fist made his appearance in the hall, his tone worried.

"I'm not sure," Sengoku answered. "It looked like he steals the shadows and puts them in those disgusting dolls around him..."

A shadow wasn't a soul like Marco initially thought, but it was still sacred enough. He wasn't sure he could heal from a shadow stealer.

Now that even Fire Fist was with them, with fire on his shoulder to light his path, Moria noticed the illumination and he didn't take long to spot them. His gaze fixated especially on Sengoku, who was annoyed by the entire situation.

"Here’s the man that fired me, even if I was the best artist around this school of losers." Moria said, as his shadow got bigger and covered even the last opening of the light on the glass dome.

He lifted his arm in the air, and all his mannequins stood up immediately. There were many more than it had seemed before, when they'd been laying at Moria's feet. "Go, my army, bring him here to me!"

The mannequins rushed forwards with ungraceful but efficient movements. Fire Fist lift his arms, fingers ready to snap so he could burn all the mannequins to ashes, but Sengoku stopped him.

"Moria put the people's shadows in those things," Sengoku explained. "I wonder what would happen if you just destroyed them."

Fire Fist cursed under his breath, but lowered his arms. "So the only solution we have is to fight Moria."

"We won't get near enough with all the mannequins to protect him," Marco commented.

"But he's the one controlling them, right? If we manage to get him to lose contact with them..."

Marco looked around. "The only idea I have is for you to light the entire zone. It's so dark, a strong fire could blind Moria so we can take him down by surprise."

"But I'll blind everyone else," Fire Fist pointed out. "So none of us would be able to fight, not only Moria."

"I won't get blind, I assure you" Marco stated. "And even if it happened, I can recover before everyone else."

Fire Fist seemed uncertain, but Sengoku commented: "Whatever, decide faster. They're almost here." And he nodded at the mannequins, only a few meters away from them.

"Okay, then," Fire Fist sighed. "We haven't a choice, I trust you with this, Phoenix."

"You can trust me even with your heart," Marco smiled.

Fire Fist rolled his eyes (has he ever noticed how cute he was?) but said nothing, letting the flames surrounded him before flaring out. Marco's eyes burned as if they were actually touched by the fire, but he still managed to see. Moria was screaming, hands on his face, and the mannequins froze, so the entire room looked as a contemporary work of art.

And Marco could even appreciate it, if he had time. But he'd promised Fire Fist, so he launched himself towards Moria and hit him on the head with his foot, pushing him against the wall. Moria screamed and fainted, falling to the ground like a doll. Soon after, his army followed him. The dark fluid that'd covered the windows disappeared, so Marco could see the shadows exiting from the mannequins and coming back to the people they belonged to.

"Well, I didn't expect it to work," Sengoku commented, unimpressed. "I hope the police have a special prison for people like him, because two times is already too much for me."

"Who are you looking for?" Marco asked Fire Fist, whose eyes scanned the hall, and in particular the still sleeping people on the ground.

"No one," Fire Fist replied, but didn't stop looking.

And Marco understood. "Oh, your little professor works here, doesn't he?"

"It's none of your business. I have to go." And Fire Fist was gone before Marco had a chance to remark something else. Or even try to transform back and get to meet him again as his real self.

"I'm going too," Marco said to Sengoku, who didn't even pay attention, much too focused on what he had to do now that Moria was defeated. So Marco knew Sengoku could handle things without him and went back to his office. This time, like Fire Fist, he had someone he was protecting.

Since the people are still sleeping, Marco transformed back in the hallway and then waited for the first one to wake up, a couple of minutes later, before entering in his office. Ace was still there, sitting in the chair.

"Looks like everything is back to normal," Ace commented.

Marco nodded. "Fire Fist and Phoenix defeated the bad guy. Sorry you missed them, maybe it would have brought back your ideas. You're okay?"

"Yes, it was safe but boring here." Ace stood up and smiled. "Thank you for today, Professor. I better go now, Luffy will be home soon and I want to be here."

"Of course," Marco said. "But please, come back to me anytime you need. I'd like to see your works complete."

"Okay. Thanks." Ace grabbed his back bag and left the room.

Only when the door closed behind Marco, he noticed the notebook on the desk, the one Ace had used. Marco picked it up: in the short time of their conversation, Ace had drawn only hands.

***

At the end of the day, Marco still hadn't been able to stop thinking about Ace's sketches. He was busy doing his own work, but he never forgot the notebook and, from time to time, he shot glares at it, since he had left it on a corner of his desk.

The point was Marco never saw Ace draw portraits if he wasn't obligated to. Ace was more of a landscape painter, and he was more abstract when it came to people, while all the hands were pretty realistic.

Marco looked at them and frowned: he remembered having read something about drawing body's parts as sign of depression. Sure, maybe Ace was just practicing his skills, but Marco felt something off in their entire conversation.

So it was at least worth a try: Marco stood up and went searching his library to find the book.

Instead, he found a camera.

It was a little one, so small it could stay on Marco's palm, and, judging by the red light, it was recording at that exact moment. Marco blinked, because that one wasn't his and he didn't recall anyone telling him about it.

It only meant someone was spying on him. Anger and fear bloomed inside Marco as he examined the camera to find out a clue of the culprit. And, at the bottom of it, here it was: someone was so stupid to spy on him with a camera that had a name written on it.

And, of course, only Professor Borsalino could be so stupid.

Marco turned off the camera and took the memory card, and put in his pocket. He hastened from his office and reached the one he was searching for, at the end of the hallway. He opened the door without knocking, then stormed in the room and placed the camera on the desk.

"Explain this."

Borsalino looked at the camera with his usual half bored look. "What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you hid it in my office to spy on me."

Borsalino blinked. "I don't even know how to turn it on."

"Maybe that nephew of yours helped you, I don't care. I know it was you. You’ve tried to get me fired since I first came here."

"You don't have any proof this camera is mine." Borsalino crossed his arms and refused to look at him.

Marco took the camera, turned around the desk and basically shoved it into Borsalino's face where the name written on the bottom, with the adhesive of a yellow monkey - Borsalino's distinctive signatures on his works of art.

"What were you thinking? Did you hope to find something compromising about me?" Marco inquired dangerous, while mentally thanked himself for never transforming in his office. "Do another thing like that and I'll be the one to get you fired."

Marco tossed the camera on the desk and left without another word, not that Borsalino did something to stop him.

Only dinner with his father and brothers calmed Marco down. He was very angry about the camera. Sure, he accepted the fact he couldn't be friends with everyone, but, at the same time, he hoped his colleagues could be at least professional. Putting a camera in Marco's office was less than professional, it was illegal at the very least.

What bothered Marco more was someone else listening to his conversations with his students. Despite the fact Marco never crossed a line with them as Borsalino probably hoped, some of his students felt like making personal confessions to him to ask for help and all of them were private. They trusted Marco to protect their secrets, not let an envious colleague use them for blackmail against Marco.

Marco didn't tell anything about this to his brothers, even if Edward noticed something was off with him, so the conversation at the table dealt with something else entirely, allowing Marco to calm down.

When he reached his bedroom for the night, he was thinking clearer. There was nothing Borsalino could have found spying on him. Not because Marco didn’t have any secrets (he just didn't transform in his office) but because nothing he said to his students could be a reason to fire him, or worse.

Still, Marco couldn't be sure for how long the camera had been in his office and how many conversations Borsalino had listened to. Marco realized he couldn't sleep without finding out, so he reached for the memory card and, in the dark of the villa so he didn't bother anyone, went to his studio.

He turned on the laptop and inserted the memory card inside. He opened the folder. There was seven video file inside, the oldest one was dated four weeks ago. Marco pressed on it and looked first at Sentomaru's big face as he had turned on the camera in the same shelf of the library Marco had found it.

The video lasted more than three hours and then stopped abruptly, so Marco suspected the battery of the camera had gone down. Marco looked just some part of the video and, as expected, nothing really happened. Doma had come to show a drawing of his and then, for the rest of the video, Marco was working at his desk.

As Marco guessed, Borsalino had asked his nephew for help. What Marco didn't think was the two were able to enter in his office on so many occasions, having the time to charge the battery and, maybe, to download the data it had recorded.

Marco snorted; he had the habit of locking the door of his office, but when he rushed to become Phoenix he didn't always get the time. It was clear Borsalino had noticed his sudden disappearances and had taken advantage of the situation. But, at least, knowing it made Marco sure this entire story couldn't have been more than three months before and, if luck was with him, the videos on the memory card were the only ones Borsalino managed to record.

Marco watched the other videos: nothing interesting happened in them too. In two of them Marco had met with a lot of his students, but nothing unprofessional was said, nothing Borsalino could use against Marco.

The last one was recorded on the same day Marco found out about the camera and it ended with Marco's face looking at the lens. The only student Marco had met was Ace, who hadn't even made any of his usually bad attempts at flirting, so, again, it was a pretty innocent useless video.

Marco skipped through it and reached the moment he had left Ace in the office. It was hard to see because of the dark Moria had created, and Marco looked bored at the screen, wondering if Borsalino could use him leaving Ace alone in a dangerous situation as a way to show his lack of expertise.

But Borsalino never got the chance to see the video, so it didn't matter.

Marco was about to stop the video, when the screen became brilliant, blinding him. Marco rubbed his eyes to recover, surprised. The screen returned normal but now, in the video, Fire Fist stood in the middle of Marco's office, flames on his shoulder to light the area. A second later, he was out and Marco stared at the video now showing an empty dark room.

"What. The. Hell."

Marco restarted the video and watched it again. And again. And again, until his eyes burned because of the bright light, but the event didn't change. Ace had transformed in Fire Fist in his office and Marco couldn't deny it anymore.

He also watched the last part of the video: Ace coming back in the office and sitting down on the chair, waiting as if he had never left the room. And Marco froze the video when Fire Fist had entered in the office and despite the bad quality it was impossible to think he was someone other than Fire Fist.

Fire Fist's real identity was Ace.

Marco accepted the truth, but he had no idea what to do with his new information. He was just shocked, and keept looking at the frozen screen, while his brain played over everything had happened last week. Marco put his hand on the mouse to play the video again, when he heard a sound behind him.

He closed the cover of the laptop with a jerk and stood up. Teach turned on the light, with an amused smile.

"Did I scare you?"

"Yes," Marco admitted, but sighed in relief. He was so focused he hadn't notice his brother in the room.

"Sorry," Teach laughed. "I thought you were in your room and that you left the computer on."

"Ah, yes, I forgot I had an email to send..."

Teach shook his head. "You work too much. Well, good night then."

"Goodnight." Marco didn't relax until Teach left the room, then rushed to the laptop, turned it off and recovered the memory card.

He hadn't decided yet what to do, but for one thing. He pressed the memory card with his thumb until it broke.


	6. Chapter Six

The house was empty when Ace came back from university. He found it strange, since Sabo wasn't supposed to work that afternoon and Luffy's lessons were only in the morning, but he wasn't worry. Sudden tasks happened to everyone and Luffy had a lot of friends he stopped by sometimes. Ace would hear news from them soon enough.

So he went to the kitchen, took a pack of chips and sat down watching television. He spent all the morning studying for the final exams and the early afternoon painting or trying to, so he needed some relax now.

Soon after, his cell phone rang and Luffy's happy face appeared on the screen. Ace looked at it for a second, smiling, before answering.

"Hey, Luffy!" Ace exclaimed. "Where are you? Don't tell me you lost track again of the metro and ended up somewhere else in Paris!"

Nobody answered for a while, then Ace heard a voice he didn't recognize.

"Hello, Fire Fist."

Ace froze, with his hand still in the pack of the chips. He swallowed. "Luffy...?"

"He's not here right now," the voice answered. "I want to chat a little with you before... It's nice to finally speak in person... sort of."

"I don't know what the hell are you talking about." The shiver Ace felt didn't disappeared, but he cooled down enough to recover some brains. "Where is my brother and why do you have his phone?"

"Funny you didn't ask for the most important thing," the voice mused. "But I'll answer you anyway. You brothers are now precious guests of mine and Luffy was so nice to lend me his phone so we can talk in private."

"Interesting phrasing for saying hostages," Ace retorted. He didn't miss the voice using plurals. So Sabo was there (wherever 'there' was) too? "But looks like you mistake me for someone else and I don't get what you can get for me."

"I'd like to keep this conversation civilize." The voice seemed annoyed. "So can we cut the crap here, Fire Fist? There's no point to negate it, unless you really don't care about your brothers. I know about you."

Ace reflected fast. Chips were abandoned on the table and Ace was still, the chair he was sitting on had fallen on the floor. He couldn’t to give away his secret identity so easily, but the voice had spoken as he was already convinced of it, and Ace had his brothers in mind first.

"Who are you?" he said finally.

"And here I thought you wouldn't never ask me that," the voice laughed. "You have heard about me, haven't you? I'm Blackbeard."

Ace hold his breath. Yeah, he had heard about him, some sort of super villain Ace was supposing to face. But he was the first time he actually heard Blackbeard in person and, well, things didn't look good.

"What do you want from me?"

"I like you, you go straight to the point and don't lose time," Blackbeard commented. "I'd just like to meet you face to face."

With his brothers as hostages and the fact Blackbeard knew his secret identity, Ace didn't doubt for an instant it was a trap. A trap he couldn't avoid though.

"Where?"

"I'll send you the address soon enough." Blackbeard stopped for a second. "Of course, I want a fair meeting. No Phoenix at all."

So there was something Blackbeard didn't know: Phoenix's real identity. Pity it was something neither Ace knew, so it wasn't an information Ace could actually use.

"Okay," Ace nodded. "But let me be clear: hurt my brothers in any way and you're dead."

Funny, Ace could almost see Blackbeard smiling menacing. "Then I suggest you to move fast." And then, Blackbeard hang up.

Ace put down the cell phone slowly, with the awareness of what had just happened penetrating in every muscles of his body. His brothers were in danger. A super villain knew his secret identity. Everything was so surreal Ace didn't know how to react, but to do everything to save his brothers.

His cell phone rang again: it was a whatsapp message sent by Sabo's. It was an address and nothing more. Ace searched with Google Maps and found out it was a not yet building skyline in the district 'La Defense'.

Pretty peculiar for a super villain, and Ace wondered if he was about to face not only someone with superpowers, but even a rich man from an important company. It would have explained how Blackbeard was able to find out about him and organize the kidnap of his brothers. Things looked worse and worse, but Ace couldn't wait. He grabbed his backpack and moved to leave the house.

When he opened the door, he found out Marco on the doorstep, a hand lift to ring the bell.

Ace blinked. "What are you doing here, Professor?"

"I found your address in the school records. I'm sorry to bother you at home," Marco said, serious. "But we need to talk."

"I don't have time right now," Ace replied, and closed the door behind him. "We can talk tomorrow after the _Travaux Pratique_. I'll be there and I'll try to finish my project."

Actually, giving his upcoming appointment with Blackbeard, there was a high probability Ace wouldn't have been able anymore to be alive, let aside attend university and take exams. But there wasn't something Ace would share to Marco, not even as Fire Fist.

"It's very important," Marco added, and his tone was low, like a plea.

"It can wait," Ace assured him, and he managed to pass him.

He was almost at the end of the house's garden, a hand of the already open gate, when Marco affirmed, his voice steady: "I know who you are."

Ace froze and his hand stopped midair. He turned around, Marco's voice mixing in his mind with Blackbeard's. "What?"

Marco lowered the tone. "You're Fire Fist."

Slowly, Ace closed the gate and went back to the house. He didn't pay attention to Marco while he took the keys and opened the door again. But, as soon as they were inside, where nobody else could see them, Ace grabbed Marco by his shirt and pushed him against the nearest wall.

"What do you know about this entire story?" Ace inquired. "Are you with Blackbeard? What, are you here to be sure I'm going? I swear, if you did something to my brothers..."

Marco stared at him with wide eyes. "Blackbeard?" he stuttered. "What happened?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Ace exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." After taking a breath, Marco's tone was steady. "But I'm not with Blackbeard. Please, let me explain everything."

Ace stared at him, angry eyes, studying Marco as if could understand if he was lying by just watching. Then Ace let Marco go with a groan and took two steps to distance from him. Ace knew his outburst didn't high his chance with Marco, but in that moment he didn't even care.

"Be fast, I don't have time."

Marco nodded. "Last day I found out a hidden camera in my office," he began. "There is this colleague of mine who's trying to fire me and probably in thought he was collected some evidences against me."

"A camera in your office?" Ace repeated, eyes widening for understanding.

"Yes. It recorded your transformation when Moria attacked the school. Luckily I found out before someone else can see the video."

"Very convenient of you," Ace commented bitter. He was angry more at himself for having think transform in Marco's office was a good idea.

"Ace, I swear, I don't mean any harm to you. That's why I come here in the first place. I won't never..." Marco's voice tremble a little and he moved to place a hand on Ace's shoulder. Ace flinched, but didn't push him away. "What happened?"

"Blackbeard... A... Well, kind of a super villain who is behind some of the attack here... Kidnapped my brothers," Ace said at last. "He called me few minutes ago, he wants to meet me." He sighed and pushed Marco's hand away. "Sorry about before, but it looked too good for be a coincidence."

Marco listened to the explanation without adding anything, then stated: "It's clearly a trap, and this Blackbeard has the upper hand, with your brothers and everything."

"Thank you, Professor, you light me up here," Ace smirked sarcastic.

Marco pretended didn't notice it. "You can't go."

"I had to. My brothers need me" Ace replied, more serious.

"At least, not alone. Let me help you."

"With all the respect, I'm not going risk your life too, Blackbeard has already two hostages more than necessary." Ace arranged better his backpack on his shoulder and moved towards the door again. "We can speak later, when my brothers will be safe." 'If' would be a better word in Ace's mind, but he hid it in a corner of his mind.

His back faced Marco, and Ace's hand where on the handle, where a sudden flash stopped him. Ace turned around fast, to see Phoenix now standing in the middle of the hallway, wings spread wide.

"Like this I'll be a little more useful, don't you think?" Marco smirked.

Ace breathed hard, eyes wide. "You... You bastard," he exhaled. "You know, and you let me kissing you!"

Marco chuckled. "Yes, but can you blame me? You did the same thing."

"Yeah..." Ace rubbed his eyes, managing to process all the information and things that were happening that day. Then he sighed. "Blackbeard said I shouldn't have called you. He was very specific."

"Screw him. I'm not letting you going alone," Marco stated. "Did Blackbeard say something about my secret identity?"

Ace shook his head. "No. I don't think he knew it. Still I'm not even sure how he found out about me..."

"Okay. I'm also pretty positive he didn't know, otherwise he could have kidnapped some of my brothers too," Marco guessed. "We can use this. Blackbeard didn't say something about your Professor lending you a lift, right?"

"No, he didn't," Ace confirmed. Then his cell phone vibrated and Ace panicked, fearing Blackbeard had already harmed Luffy or Sabo because Ace was late. But the ring tone was the one from Sabo's app and, relaxing, Ace checked it tapping the screen with his finger.

"A person with superpower is creating problem in Place de La Concorde" Ace informed Marco.

"He's one of Blackbeard's man" Marco stated. "I'm guessing, Blackbeard is creating a diversion for me to be sure I won't come for you."

Ace's eyes were still on the cell phone. "You can't come for me," he corrected Marco. "Those people needs you. They'll need both of us but..."

"No" Marco said. "Right now, you're the one in the greatest danger. If something happens to you, nobody in Paris will be safe anymore. That's why I'll come with you." Since Ace wasn't convinced, Marco placed both hands on his shoulder and turned back in his human form. "Let's have a little bit faith in Smoker and his men, okay? Paris will be safer as soon as we defeat Blackbeard."

And despite Ace still feeling bad about taking Phoenix with him when there was people in danger, he nodded.

***

The place Blackbeard had addressed him was a fifteen floor palace with big glass windows at the corner of the east area of La Defence. From the outside it looked completely building, but it was still surrounded by a high perimeter that kept people away and managed to hid the first floor of the palace. On the main gate there was some billboard about selling office and about the construction data.

With confidence, so he won't draw the people's attention, Ace pushed open the gate, which didn't seem even locked in the first place, while Marco waited outside. Then he moved to the door. Ace didn't miss the camera at the top of the ring bell, so he wasn't surprised the sliding door opened as soon as he got near it.

Ace entered, not before having covered the camera, but left a foot outside so the door won't close behind him. The he shot a glare on the inside: the hallway looked empty and dark and new, so Ace spotted soon enough the camera on the ceiling.

"Enkai."

He turned in a second in Fire Fist and broke all the camera with his fire. Then reached for the door and blocked it before it closed. Marco's head peeked through the gate and Ace nodded at him to join him. Only when Marco was inside with him, Ace let the door closed, and the two of them found themselves and the begin of a long hallway poor lighten.

Ace's cell phone rang and the screen showed Luffy's face, but Ace didn't fool himself, so he wasn't surprise hearing Blackbeard's voice.

"That wasn't our agreement."

"What agreement?" Ace retorted. "You ask me to come, and here I am. Now I want some guarantee." Since Blackbeard remained silence, Ace went on: "Before everything, I want to be sure my brothers are safe and sound."

"At the end of the hallway there is a lift. Take it, tenth floor," Blackbeard ordered, like he hadn't heard what Ace was demanding. "And please, transform back. I'd like to meet you with your true self."

"First do what I asked you, then we'll see." And Ace hang up.

He wasn't half as confident as he'd sounded, so lowered his arms trembling and kept looking at the floor. Marco put his hands on Ace's shoulder.

"What if Blackbeard hurts them?" Ace asked. "What if he'll sent me a piece of them."

Marco's grip tightened. "It's unlikely," he said. "Blackbeard knows he got you only because of your brothers. If he's smart as he thinks he is, he won't arm them in any way."

Ace hoped Marco was right. Silence fell upon them, until Ace's cell phone rang. From Sabo's came a photo through whatsapp: it showed Luffy and Sabo sitting on the floor, back against the wall. None of them seemed hurt, but their expression wasn't happy. Luffy's face aimed at Sabo, who looked in front of him, frowning.

"Is it really useful?" Ace showed the photo to Marco, as he sighed relieved.

"I was expecting something better," Marco admitted. "It looks as an ordinary room... But I can work on it."

"Okay," Ace nodded. "It's better I go before Blackbeard becomes suspicious..." He gripped Marco's arm. "I trust my brothers to you."

"Of course." Marco took a step forward and turned in Phoenix. Then he gestured at Ace to move, as he turned around to search for another way to reach the upper floor which wasn't the lift.

So Ace followed the hallway as Blackbeard had told him, he found the lift and took it. He sighed as the door closed and the lift climbed, faster than Ace hoped. In few seconds, he found himself in a large empty room. There were no windows in the room, only the lamp in the ceiling lightened it and, since the floor and the wall were white, everything looked surreal, just like the silence.

Ace took some cautious steps forward, not feeling any presence. He stopped, watching around if there was any camera, and he spotted one right below the door on the opposite site of the room. In that moment, black straps made of energy popped out from the wall at his sides. Ace tried to avoid, but they followed him and managed to wrapped around his torso, nailed his arms at his side.

Ace squirmed to get free, but the straps were not only indestructible, but able to take his energy away. As soon Ace used his powers, he felt something pulled him painful and he found himself not transformed in Fire Fist anymore. And despite his attempt, he wasn't able to call his powers back.

So he stood there, wiggling, fist close, until the door opened.

For a super villain, Blackbeard didn't look so scary. He dressed only with dark clothes, of course, high hells and a mask that covered his upper face and a cap with hors, but he was so fat the shirts couldn't cover his entire belly, which stood out with all his black body heir. To Ace, Blackbeard looked as someone who tried too hard to be cool.

That wasn't enough to make Ace less wary, so he kept watching at him with a harsh expression.

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Fire Fist," Blackbeard smirked. "Or I should say, Portgas D. Ace?"

"Let my brothers go," Ace said. "You got what you wanted, you don't need them anymore."

"It's true, I don't need them anymore." But the tone was so cold Ace shivered, getting the consequence of that sentence. So he changed subject.

"You're a coward, you know? At least, the others faced me without any tricks. They're better than you."

"I consider myself prudent," Blackbeard answered softly, not fazed at all by Ace's remarks. "After all, I got what I want, as you said. None of the others even managed to archive any of their goals, let aside repay what I did for them."

"What you did...?" Ace repeated. "Wait, are you saying you're the one giving them powers?"

"Speaking of it... Where is Phoenix?" Blackbeard ignored his question. "I sent one of my man to lure him out, but he never showed up." He moved close to Ace, his dark eyes shining behind the mask. "You don't call for him, do you?"

Ace took a step behind to get far, but the straps kept him in place. He shook his head. "I don't even know how to contact him." It wasn't exactly a lie, Ace haven't known that until thirty minutes ago.

Blackbeard looked at Ace careful, as he tried to read his mind and found out if Ace was lying, but in the end believed him. "I wonder if I'm missing something..." he muttered, almost as himself, and Ace didn't add anything, waiting and hoping for Phoenix to not get caught.

"Well, whatever." Blackbeard shrugged, after few minutes of deep thinking. "I'll verify this theory later. For now, I'll take care of you." He gripped Ace's t-shirt and ripped him apart, leaving his chest naked. "You don't mind, do you?" The he placed a gloved hand on Ace's bare skin, near the heart.

Ace would like to escape away from that disgusting touch, but he couldn't. So he kicked Blackbeard on the thigh bones. Blackbeard didn't finch or move: he just snapped his fingers and others dark straps erupted from the floor, wrapping around Ace's leg so he can't move them too.

The straps made Ace weak and completely halted. "So you're going to kill me so easily?" he snorted.

"Killing you? No, that would be a waste," Blackbeard replied, with an amused smile. "At least, not before having get your Miraculous."

"My... what?"

"You don't even know how luck you are. You don't deserve it." And without any other explanation, dark appeared on Blackbeard's palm, the one placed on Ace's chest. Ace felt energy flowed upon him, and then something pulled it off with strength. Then he understood: Blackbeard was stealing his powers!

Ace squirmed even more, but he only managed to tighten the straps that prevented him to move. He gritted his teeth and tried with all his strength to keep his powers inside him, but the force pulling them was too strong for him.

Then Blackbeard was cut apart from him and, with nothing more to pull, Ace's powers flowed again inside him, even if he wasn't able to use it. Blackbeard rolled at the end of the room, while Phoenix landed with elegance at Ace's side.

Ace sighed relieved, but it lasted a second. "Do you find my brothers?"

Marco shook his head. "I thought I were in the right room, but there was no one in here..."

"Then you should have keep searching!"

"You were in danger!" Marco replied. "And if we beat Blackbeard, we can still save them." And he looked at Ace, checking his conditions, before moving his hand to destroy the straps.

Ace was still angry about Marco's decision, but he could appreciate be finally free. "Be careful, this thing in some way stealing powers."

"I noticed," Marco commented annoyed, since it didn't matter how much he pulled, the straps didn't move an inch.

"Seems I'm not the one to break the deal." Blackbeard was on his feet again, a cell phone in his hands. "So you don't care about you brothers as much as you say." But his smirked fell when the phone kept ringing with no one answering. "Eh?"

"About that, I found some of your man sleeping," Marco informed him. "And for some of them it wasn't my work."

"What does that mean?" Ace asked.

"My best guess... Your brothers escaped." Marco wasn't even surprise about that, while Ace's eyes widened. Sabo and Luffy in a cage were still more safe than Sabo and Luffy running around with dangerous people with superpowers trying to catch them.

"We need to find them!"

"As soon as I'll take you out of here," Marco agreed, even if his attempt at breaking the straps didn't give any results.

"Fine!" Blackbeard burst out, since nobody answered to his call. "I had to do it myself, as usual."

"Be careful!" Ace warned Marco, who swore under his breath and jumped away from Ace and from Blackbeard's attack. But, despite Marco flew in the air, Ace saw clearly the dark on Blackbeard's palm and then Marco pulled down again towards Blackbeard.

Blackbeard managed to grab Marco and, with the other hand, punched him in the jaws, crashing him on the floor. Then Blackbeard placed himself over him. "Let's see who there's behind that mask, shall we?" His hands were both on Marco's wings, pinning them on the floor.

No matter how much Marco struggled, Blackbeard didn't move from him until he was able to turn Marco into a normal human, as much as the dark straps had done with Ace before.

Marco glared at him, while Blackbeard smirked satisfied. "So I was right... It's you, Marco. Luckily Van Auger didn't kill you, that would have been a waste."

Ace, who was squirming to come and help Marco, stopped. Even Marco seemed surprise by Blackbeard's remarks. "What?"

Blackbeard moved from him and Marco managed to sit down, still looking at him with wide eyes. "It was an error from my part, but when I saw Pops speaking with you so secretive, I suspected he was planning to give you his Miraculous. First time a defeat is actually a good thing, so I can take yours too."

"Who are you?" Marco said slowly, his eyes even more wide.

Blackbeard smiled, then took off his mask. Ace didn't know him, but judging from Marco's expression the same thing couldn't be said for him. He would have asked, but for now Ace couldn't get off his gaze from Marco: he looked so hurt and betrayed.

"Teach... You... You're Blackbeard?"

"Don't bother," Blackbeard shrugged. "The only reason I stayed with the Newgate family was to get some clue about the Miraculous. Well, my original plan was to get Pops give his to me, that's the reason I hurried to kill you to get rid of the competitors." He smirked again. "Well, at least it worked in both ways. I should thank you, you even gave me Fire Fist's identity."

"That's a lie!" Ace exclaimed.

"Oh, Marco wouldn't do that willing, relax," Blackbeard commented. "But still..."

Marco stood up. He didn't say anything, but his expression was cold and angry. Blue flames surrounded him, but before he could transform, Blackbeard grabbed him for the neck and smashed in the ground again.

"Marco!" Ace screamed.

"Gom Gom no... Pistol!" Someone came from behind Ace and smashed against Blackbeard. The blow separated Blackbeard from Marco and made the first collide against the wall and remained still on the ground.

"Shishishi, just in time," Luffy smiled.

"Luffy! What the hell...!" Ace exhaled, eyes wide.

"Ace!" Sabo was at his side, his tablet in a hand. "You're safe."

"I should be the one to say that" Ace protested. "What's happened?"

Sabo grabbed one of the straps and tore it off. "Well, it turned off Luffy has superpowers too, and the technology here is so bland I managed to hack the entire web of the palace, so we could escape..."

"Wait! Luffy has superpowers? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Luffy grabbed both his cheeks and pulled them down, stretching there more than it was possible. "I'm a rubber man."

"Why the hell you haven't tell us before?"

Luffy shrugged. "I didn't care? I don't want to be a hero."

"You should have told us anyway."

"Well, you didn't tell me about being Fire Fist, so we're even." Luffy crossed his arms and pouted.

"Shut up, you're our little brother." Then Ace looked at Sabo, who had managed to destroy all the straps, getting him finally free. "How did you do that? I was totally trapped."

Sabo shrugged. "Maybe because I don't have any powers?"

"I'm not sure about that..." Ace commented, giving Sabo had been able to hack a super villain's lair as it was nothing.

"Shishishi, Sabo is weaker than me."

"You would," Sabo replied, but Ace didn't miss his pout.

Marco had been watching the entire scene with a mix of awe and amusement, then he got up. "Guys, not to ruin your fun, but we still have someone to fight." And he nodded at Blackbeard, who was recovered after Luffy's attack.

"Ah. Right," Luffy commented.

Ace let his flames run free, happy he could still felt them, and turned into Fire Fist.

"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed, clapping his hands. Then he reached for his cell phone to take a photo.

Ace rolled his eyes, while Sabo chuckled. "Are you going to fight him alone?" Sabo asked then. "You said you can't defeat enemies without Phoenix's help."

Ace turned to him. "No, I didn't!"

Sabo lift an eyebrow. "Yes, you did."

"Oh, did you?" Marco chirped in, a soft satisfied smile on his lips. Ace groaned. "Well, don't worry then, I'm right here." And, with that, Marco turned into his superhero aspect too.

"So cool!" Luffy repeated, his eyes shining.

Sabo blinked. "That..."

"We'll talk about this later," Ace cut it off. "Take Luffy out of here."

"But I want to see the battle!" Luffy protested, but when Sabo grabbed him for the arms, he followed him towards the lift.

"So... Do you have a plan?" Ace stepped forward to get Marco's side.

"Maybe," Marco nodded. "I noticed before... Every time Teach gets hit, darkness surrounds him. Like he's losing control of his powers."

Ace looked at Blackbeard. He was standing, but there still was some smoking darkness around him.

"If we can hit him strong enough, we can win." Then Marco smiled. "I'll stop him, you attack."

And before Ace get the change to add something, Marco was flying in the air. Blackbeard lured him again, but this time Ace hit Blackbeard with one of his fire ball, so Marco could regain control of himself and managed to land behind Blackbeard. Then Marco catch him, his arms and wings wrapped around Blackbeard's torso so he couldn't move from the spot.

"Now!" Marco screamed at Ace.

"I could hit you too..." Ace began.

"There's no time. Do it!"

"No!" Teach exclaimed. "Not now that I was so close..."

And he grabbed one of Marco's wing, ready to steal his powers again. Ace reacted immediately.

"Fire Fist!"

The pillar of flames erupted from his fist and hit Blackbeard right in the chest, while the strength of the blow pushed both him and Marco against the nearest wall. Despite his worries for Marco, Ace didn't block his attack until he stopped feel resistance on the other side. Then he extinguished the fire, in time to see both Blackbeard and Marco collapsing on the floor.

Ace reached for Marco: he was badly burned, eyes close, but he was breathing and still in his Phoenix's form. Ace dragged him far from Blackbeard by pulling a wing, as the blue flames covered Marco's skin to heal him.

"We did it?" Marco asked, panting hard.

"I... think so?" Ace watched Blackbeard contorted himself on the floor, as the darkness surrounded him entirely.

"No... No...! Not now...! I was close... I was so close...!"

But the darkness swallowed Blackbeard's voice too, until what remained of him was a black spot on the white floor.

Ace took a relief sigh. His brothers were safe. He was still alive, and so was Marco. The day couldn't have ended better.

He heard someone clapped and he turned his head to see Luffy and Sabo, still on the doorstep of the lift. Both had their cell phone in their hands.

"I told you to run!" Ace protested.

"Yeah, but Luffy wanted to see the battle and I thought... I can sell this photo and gain a lot of money... We need it, you know?" Sabo looked so innocent, and Luffy just laughed.

Ace groaned, then shook his head. Then he walked to them and grabbed them for the shoulder, draw them near him. "I was so worried..." he commented, as he felt their arms around him.

"I wasn't," Luffy replied. "I was sure Fire Fist would come."

"Well, I was sure Ace would come," Sabo added.

"Yeah, let's speak about the fact you didn't tell me!" Luffy protested.

"Shut up, you didn't tell us about your powers and that's a lot worse," Ace retorted.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you again," Marco intervened. His powers had healed him entirely and, much to Ace's relief, he was okay now. "But there was an attack in Place de La Concorde. We should get there as fast as possible."

Ace had almost forgotten about that. "Right," he said, but he freed himself from his brothers' hug with sadness.

Sabo looked at his cell phone. "Too late," he informed the others. "Looks like the attacker lost his powers so the police could arrest him easily. Maybe because you defeated Blackbeard?" he wondered.

"Maybe." Ace nodded. He was someway happy he didn't have to fight again for the day, and all he wanted right now was to return home with his brothers and stayed with them until the fear of losing them disappeared.

But, from Marco's gaze behind the mask, Ace got it wasn't the end yet.

"We should speak with my father," Marco stated. "What Teach said before..."

"Yeah, I know." Ace didn't get everything about the relationship between Marco, Blackbeard and the man they called Pops, but there was still a lot of mysteries about their powers and now they had a clue. "I'll see you at home," Ace said to his brothers. "This time, go for real."

"Okay," Sabo nodded, with a tone that meant Ace would have to tell everything to them too, as soon as he would reach them at home.

Ace waited for them to take the lift before turning his attention on Marco. "Let's go, then."

***

They reached Marco's using their powers, so they managed to get there soon enough. Marco still took some time to explain Ace about who Teach was, so he could understand better what'd happened back in the palace and what they needed to say Pops before anything else. Marco appreciated Ace's reaction at knowing Teach's betrayal: it was a mix of sadness and anger and surprise, similar to the reaction Marco himself had felt.

Still, despite all the explanation, Ace watched at Marco's house with eyes wide, as they landed in the garden.

"This is your house? It's a damn mansion! Versailles is smaller, I tell you."

Marco chuckled. "We're a lot of people, it's barely enough for all of us." Then he turned back in his human form and took the keys. Ace followed him and, as soon as they entered, he kept looking around the house.

Marco peeked in the first room, the sitting room: some of his brothers were there, busy with different works. "Hey, guys!" he greeted them.

They all turned their head at him. "Marco! Finally!" Vista exclaimed. "You work too much."

It was something Marco heard many times. "Yeah, sorry, I've been busy. Is Pops home?"

"He's in his office," Jaws answered, then his gaze fell on Ace, who had joined Marco on the doorstep of the room. He wasn't the only one noticing the new arrival.

Marco read the question in his brothers' eyes, but he wasn't ready to put Ace in their care. "Thanks." And he nodded at Ace to follow him. Ace, with a last look at the room, followed him.

"Wait." Marco heard Izou's voice. "You forgot to introduce your new friend!"

"Maybe we should have..." Ace started.

"No," Marco stated. "They're curious and, if we permit them, they won't let you go for a while. But, if you'd like to meet them, I can introduce you later."

"If you said so. It's your family after all."

Yes, it was his family and for that motive Marco wouldn't let them too close to Ace, not until Marco himself sorted out how to get with his feeling about him being both his student and Fire Fist. And knowing Izou and the others, they wouldn't stop speaking about their relationship and Marco wasn't ready to face them yet.

Marco knocked the door of Edward's office, but since no one answered, he entered. Edward was sitting in his enormous chair behind his desk, eyes closed, but he opened them and looked at his visitors.

"Sorry, Pops, but we need to speak with you," Marco said. "This is Ace, a student of mine."

Ace nodded. "Nice to meet you, Mister Newgate."

"Same," Edward answered, and sighed. "But something told me you'd like to speak with me as Phoenix and Fire Fist."

Marco's eyes widened, and he heard Ace gasped at his side.

"Please sit down and explain everything to me."

Marco obeyed, but waited until Ace sat down at his next and nodded, as let him free to speak about what had happened. Still, Marco told Edward only his side of the story, as he had decided to become a superhero after seeing Fire Fist, about finding out Ace's identity for mistake and how they'd fought Blackbeard, who was Teach all along.

As he spoke about Teach, Marco could almost feel Edward's heart broke, and he swallowed. "We should tell the others too, but... I don't know how to explain it."

"We'll think about it," Edward affirmed, even if he looked a lot more tired than before. "For now, let's talk about you two."

"Miraculous," Ace stated, speaking for the first time. "That's what Teach wanted. It's the name of our powers, isn't it?"

"They are called like this, yes." Edward stood up and reached the library. He opened the shutter and took something, that put on the desk before sitting again.

Marco looked at it: it was a stone stele fifty-centimeter-tall, carved with a circle subdivided in ten parts. One of this parts had some drawing of people doing something, but most of them were too much ruined to understand what they meant.

"It's the Poneglyph," Edward explained, before Marco or Ace could ask.

"Ah," Marco understood. "It was the finding that sand man was searching when he attacked the Louvre. You have it all along?"

Edward nodded. "I guess Teach asked his men to find it, and since it's an ancient stele, that man thought he could be in a Museum."

"What is it?" Ace asked.

"It's the older and, for what I know, the only testify about the Miraculous," Edward said. "You expected me to tell you everything, but the truth is that no one knows exactly what our power are or where they come from. They have been existed since the begin of the world and their story is so old we can't find a source or an explanation about them. I suppose that's why they were called Miraculous for the first time. They can't be explained."

And then he laughed at Ace's disappointed expression. "Sorry. At least, I can tell them the little I know."

"It's something." Ace sighed, still not happy.

"First, Miraculous aren't innate power," Edward began. "If you have them, it's because someone gave them to you. They survive centuries passing from person to person. Maybe, at the beginning, they were supposed to choose the one who deserved them most, but now it's a choice for the previous owner."

"Who gave you yours?" Marco asked. Edward spoke very little about his past, and Marco have always wondered he had a lonely past, but maybe there was something more.

"One of my mate when I was a soldier. I stayed with him as he died, so he left his gift before leaving this world."

"Wait! You're Whitebeard?" Ace exclaimed.

Edward laughed. "They used to call me that, yes. Funny, because I never grew a beard."

"We looked for you. I did, at least," Ace explained.

"I did too," Marco added. "We found the name in a website about aliens..."

Edward busted out laughing. "Giving how little we know about Miraculous, they could be aliens powers, still..." he admitted when he calmed down. "But I stopped used mine after the war and I never participated in war related events, so that's why you didn't understand it was me. Most soldiers are just names in history books."

Marco nodded. "Do you know I have a Miraculous when you adopted me?"

"I'm sure you hadn't, since I gave you mine."

Marco's eyes widened. "You did? Why?"

"I stopped using mine after the war. It looked too destructive, especially for a country like France that needed time to rebuilt itself. So I kept it hiding: I've already decided I would have passed them to someone I found worthy, and that is you." Edward sighed. "I'm sorry I gave you so much responsibilities. I was planning to explain you everything, but you ended up being the Phoenix before I had the chance, so I waited even more."

Marco's gaze shifted on Ace, who sat down, eyes on the desk, then smiled. "Well, you should have told me before, but I can't complain about the outcome."

Edward laughed. "Even if you're forced in that tight suit of yours?"

"It's not that bad!"

"It doesn't make sense," Ace muttered. His tone was so low the other two weren't sure Ace was speaking with them. "Your Miraculous creates earthquakes, Marco's turned him in a Phoenix, sort of. It's not the same."

"That's the second thing I know about Miraculous," Edward explained calm. "They adapted themselves to their owner."

"You mean you can't know which power you're going to have?" Marco asked.

"Yes. That's also the reason why it's so hard to create a story for them. They change every times. My comrade was able to see through walls, but what I got was completely different." Then, Edward's gaze focused on Ace. "So you may know something with a power which isn't yours and he could still be the one gave you yours."

"I... My..." Ace swallowed. "...father... Was pretty famous for his... talent." Ace snored at that word. "Maybe he had a power."

"It's likely."

Seeing Ace's discomfort, Marco decided to change subject. "This artifact... The Poneglyph," he began. "It has some meaning?"

"For what I know, it represents all the Miraculous" Edward answered. "They're ten originally. But since the powers change, it's hard to tell what the owner could do centuries ago."

"Plus it's too ruined to have a clear look," Marco added.

"Ten?" Ace counted, helping himself with his finger. "But we met more than ten people with superpowers."

"I have a theory about that," Edward stated. "It's just a hypothesis based on what you told me about Teach."

"What is it?" Ace asked, curious.

"Miraculous should be donate willing. But nobody told me they couldn't be stolen. And Teach looked as one he wanted to have them with any means necessary."

"Yeah, it's pretty probably," Ace agreed. "That could explain him being sucked by the Miraculous once he lost grip on it."

"That was my thought."

"But it didn't explain the others' powers," Marco added.

"Well, as Teach was able to steal a Miraculous, maybe he was able to pass some piece of it to his men. The people you fought... They lost their power after the battle, didn't they?"

"Yeah..." Marco reflected: some of the sentences he heard from Teach and his minions made sense in that way. "It could be the explanation on why recently we met so many of them. It was all Teach's doing."

"It would be nice turning back to normal criminals, I had to admit it." Ace sighed.

"But there could still be at least six people out there with powers," Marco pointed out.

"And all of them are criminals? In France?" Ace groaned.

Edward laughed. "Well, it's even possible they don't exist anymore. My comrade believed a Miraculous die with their owner, that's why he gave it to me. So maybe some of them were already disappeared from the world. In all my life, except for the two of you, I only met another one."

"I see." Marco's eyes shifted on Ace, who barely shook his head. Even if Marco could trust his father, Luffy's secret was his own and as he had decided not to use his powers or share them, Marco should respect that. But Luffy's presence made Marco aware of the possibilities that Miraculous haven't disappeared so easily.

"Well, that's all I know about Miraculous. Sorry if it wasn't too much." Edward ended his speech.

"It was enough, thank you." Ace stood up and made a small bow.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Edward offered. "Sure, Thatch is still recovering so you won't taste his cooking, but we can offer you something good."

"No, thanks. I need to go back to my brothers."

"Ah, I'll give you a lift," Marco offered, and hurried to follow him.

"Okay, but you'll be always welcome here." That were Edward's last words before the two left the room.

Ace was silence, so Marco didn't press him as they reached for his car. Marco had some thoughts by his own, and he should admit the day had gone totally different by his first guess, but nevertheless his doubts about their situation remained. Marco would like to keep being a superhero and hoped Ace thought the same way. Still, now that they knew their secret identities, thing would chance even if they didn't like it.

Marco was focused on driving were he heard Ace chuckle. "What?" he asked.

"No, it's just..." Ace's smile grew bigger. "I was imagining you teaching but acting like Phoenix."

"You mean I would be ridiculous?" Marco smiled back.

"A little. Or maybe it's ridiculous the idea of you being him. You look pretty different."

"Well, I can't deny it." Marco sighed. "Or maybe it was a part of me. I'm not different from Phoenix, we just show different aspect."

"I like your normal self more," Ace stated, nodding.

"I've noticed." And Marco smiled again, as Ace blushed and turned his head in another direction. So Marco added: "Instead, I should have understood you were Fire Fist."

"Should you?"

"Yeah, well... I remember my first day with your class," Marco spoke. "Nobody sat near Oars, because he has a very peculiar aspect. He was alone, and you just looked at him and moved to sit near him. I was touched by it."

"I don't recall," Ace commented, gripping his hands. "Oars is okay and I sat down with him, just..."

"It's because it's natural for you being a good person."

Ace didn't add anything, and Marco respected his silence again. He stopped the car in front of his house and only then he spoke again. "Will I see you at lesson tomorrow?"

"If nothing happens tonight, yes. I've missed too many already." Ace opened the car door, but he didn't walk right away towards the house. He stood here for a little, a hand still placed on the car door. "I'm sorry I kissed you despite you told me how you feel. Goodnight."

Ace didn't give Marco the chance to reply. He turned his back and went straight to the house's door.

"Ace! You're back!" Marco heard Luffy's voice. "Sabo tied me up with my own arms! Help me!"

"You deserved it!" replied Sabo.

"Sabo!" Ace protested, closing the door behind him.

Marco kept looking at the close door for a while, before leaving with a sigh.


	7. Chapter Seven

"Please, come on."

As Ace heard the familiar voice of Marco, he opened the door and almost faltered in a box that was placed right at the entrance of the office. The entire room was filled with boxes and Marco himself was bend down to put some books in one of them.

"Oh, Ace." Marco greeted him with a big smile.

"Are you moving?" Ace asked, surprised, still looking at the boxes.

"Yes." Marco nodded and looked around with sad eyes. "I've accepted the offer of an old friend of mine. He's the headmaster of a school for children with disabilities."

"Oh." Ace stared at Marco. He didn't expect that. Sure, giving how much Marco spoke about being a teacher, he shouldn't have been a surprise he was interesting in something like helping disable children. Still, they haven't see each other in a week but for the lesson time with everyone else, and Ace felt a little disappointed in finding out. "I... Well..."

"Don't worry, I won't leave before you all take your exams," Marco assured him. "You've been in my care for the all year and I will be there until the end. But I don't know who will take my place next year."

"It was... unexpected," Ace admitted.

"It was," Marco confirmed. "Do you need something?"

"Ah, yes. I finished my project for the _Travaux Pratique_. It's in the room with the others, I just wanted to tell you..."

"I'm glad to hear your ideas came back." Marco smiled.

"Yeah. I... just add something blue in my fire, that's all."

And Ace looked straight in Marco's eyes, looking for his reaction. His face was still.

"I thought you said you don't like it."

"Well, it turned out Phoenix wasn't so bad after all."

"I'm honored."

Ace breathed. Frankly, he didn't even know what to expect. But they hadn't talk since the all incident with Blackbeard and Ace wasn't sure how to deal with all the feeling he had. He would miss Marco as a teacher, but at the same time he would miss more Phoenix as partner, just he wasn't sure how their relationship could work. Ace felt he would miss Phoenix's sexual innuendos too.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you. Now it's better I let you deal with... all this." And Ace widened his arm to point at all the boxes.

"Maybe I need a break," Marco said. "Will you take a coffee with me?"

Ace blinked. "You said a coffee isn't appropriate for student and teacher." And then he bit his tongue: why the hell he didn't just say yes?

"Well, I'm not your teacher anymore," Marco stated. "Or better I won't be in few weeks, so..."

Ace's hand was already on the handle, but he took it back and turned again to face Marco. "You don't leave the school because of me, do you?"

"And if I do?"

"I'll tell you to stop," Ace replied. "I don't want our... relationship, whatever you'd like to call it, being built with one of us giving up something he loves." And Ace meant it even if their relationship would remain with just partnership as superheroes.

Marco smiled. "Shanks... This friend of mine, have asked me for years to join his school. I hadn't had until now because he's an annoying man most of the time, but he's doing an important job and I'd love to be helpful," he explained. "So be assured. I'm not giving up anything, I'm opening myself to a better opportunity." He paused. "Still... You're a part of my decision. I can't be a good teacher if I'm in love with you."

Ace's heart missed a beat, but he just stared at him without blink.

Marco smiled again, with some sadness in it. "Of course, that doesn't mean anything for you. I could have though you feel something for me, but if-"

"You mean it?" Ace interrupted him. "Not with Fire Fist? With me?"

"Fire Fist is a part of you," Marco answered. "But meeting you just increase what I've already felt."

Ace avoided the box to close the distance between them and kissed him. He kept his eyes shut this time, as he was scared to see something different from the gaze Marco had given Fire Fist. But Marco didn't wait, he pulled him near with a hand on Ace's check and the others on Ace's back.

Then Ace's cell phone rang. They separated themselves, and then smiled, head at the ground. Ace licked his lips as grabbed the cell phone.

"There's a bank robbery in Rue Saint Martin," he said.

Marco shook his head, but he was amused. "Looks Paris needs you again."

Finally, Ace lift his head and looked at him, a big smile on his face. "It needs _us_."


End file.
